China Horse Club et al's Russian Revolution (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) built on his early promise at three last year with a win in the G1 Galaxy H. in the autumn, thus securing his spot at stud at Newgate Farm. The team's decision to keep him in training at four, however, paid off on Saturday when the bay added another top-class trophy to his mantle with a win in the G1 Oakleigh Plate. He also led home the exacta for his champion sire when overhauling the pacesetting Snitty Kitty (Aus) late on.
Settling about three lengths off the flying Snitty Kitty and between runners down the side of the course, Russian Revolution raced into range while four-wide under Mark Zahra coming off the turn. Snitty Kitty proved a tough customer, only letting Russian Revolution past about 25 metres from the line, and he found the finish a neck in front, with the top five separated by three quarters of a length.
Saturday, Caulfield, Australia
OAKLEIGH PLATE-G1, A$502,000, MRC, 2-24, Open Handicap, 1100mT, 1:03.00, Good.
1–RUSSIAN REVOLUTION, 56.5, h, 4, by Snitzel
1st Dam: Ballet d'Amour (USA), by Stravinsky (USA)
2nd Dam: Exigent (USA), by Miswaki (USA)
3rd Dam: L'Extravagante (CAN), by Le Fabuleux (FR)
(A$320,000 Ylg 2015 WI Sydney Easter Yearling Sale)
O-Newgate S F (Mgr G D Murphy), China Horse Club Racing Pty
Ltd (Mgr A K Teo), Go Bloodstock Australia (Mgr: Sir O G
Glenn), Horse Ventures (Mgr M B Sandblom), John Stuart
Investment; B-John Stuart Investments QLD; T-P & P Snowden;
J-M Zahra; A$302,000. Lifetime Record: 11-7-0-0,
A$1,284,225. *1/2 to Turbo Miss (Sebring), GSW-Aus,
A$202,175. Werk Nick Rating: A+++ *Triple Plus*. Click for
the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Snitty Kitty, 53.5, m, 4, Snitzel–Lassiter's Cat, by Tale of the
Cat (USA). (A$175,000 Ylg 2015 MM Gold Coast Yearling Sale)
O-P R G Collins, C C & K P Johnstone, G W Henderson, T Curry,
G Curry, Mrs S Moxon, Ms T Whitehead, J G Carmichael, C M
Barrett, N P Bingham, J Fay, D Di Giacomo, Lucky Girl; B-Mr
GW Henderson NSW; T-Henry Dwyer; J-Beau Mertens;
A$90,000.
3–Hellbent, 54.5, h, 5, I Am Invincible–Volkaspray (NZ), by
Volksraad (GB). (A$95,000 Ylg 2014 WI Classic Yearling Sale)
O-A Cardy, P Green, M Wiener, J Hilton, F Mitchell, H Mitchell,
A Mitchell, Dr C G Lawler, Yarraman Park Stud, Poidevin
Paradice Racing (Mgr: S P Poidevin) & McEnnis Racing Pty Ltd;
B-Dr R McClenahan NSW; T-D K Weir; J-Ben Allen; A$45,000.
Margins: 0.2 len, 0.3 len, 0.4 len. Odds: 3.60, 8.00, 15.00.
Also Ran: Booker, Bons Away, Catchy, Lady Esprit, Quilista, Rock 'n' Gold, She Will Reign, Fuhryk, Sword of Light, Flamberge, Glenall, Palazzo Pubblico, Sheidel, Illustrious Lad, Prussian Vixen.
Click for the Racing Post result or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
Russian Revolution didn't get going until late in his 2-year-old season, but he quickly evolved into one to watch with four straight wins to begin his career, including the G3 Vain S. and G2 Roman Consul S., the latter over Group 1 winners Astern (Aus) (Medaglia d'Oro) and Capitalist (Aus) (Written Tycoon {Aus}). He suffered his first defeat when fourth behind Flying Artie (Aus) (Artie Schiller) in the G1 Coolmore Stud S., but redeemed himself first-up in the autumn with a win over the future Everest scorer Redzel (Aus) (Snitzel {Aus}) in the Galaxy. Off the board in the G1 TJ Smith S. and G1 Doomben 10,000 to wrap up that campaign, Russian Revolution won the G2 McEwen S. first-up at four but likely gave connections a scare when beating just one home over the same track and trip in the G1 Moir S. three weeks later. Tuned up for this with a pair of Randwick trials, he appeared back to his best with a gritty win.
As for what will come next before Russian Revolution joins his old adversaries Capitalist and Flying Artie at Newgate, China Horse Club's Teo Ah Khing said, “I think the investment and the collective efforts with the training team and all the people involved pays off; the patience shown with Russian Revolution where he had a rest and is just coming back now, and I think that bodes well for him as he's going to be prepared to be retired to stud. I think we're going to talk to the team and see what's next for him.”
Pedigree Notes…
Russian Revolution was one of 18 yearlings, alone or in partnership, signed for by China Horse Club at Inglis's Easter yearling sale in 2015 for a total spend of A$7,580,000. The fourth foal out of the U.S.-raced and winning Stravinsky mare Ballet D'Amour, he is a half to the G3 Frances Tressaday S. winner Turbo Miss (Aus) (Sebring {Aus}). The third dam is L'Extravagante (Le Fabuleux), who produced the Canadian champions L'Enjoleur, La Voyageuse, Medaille d'Or and the GII Breeders' Futurity winner D'Accord. Ballet D'Amour's most recently recorded produce is a yearling colt by another Newgate sire, Wandjina (Aus).
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
