CHAMPAGNE STAKES
Group One, 1600m, $400,000 set weights for two-year-olds at Randwick
HISTORY:
* First run over seven furlongs (1400m) in 1866 when won by Fishhook
* Held over 1600m since 1972
* The final leg of the two-year-old triple crown after the Golden Slipper Stakes (1200m) and ATC Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m)
* Outstanding gallopers to have won the race include: Furious (1921), Heroic (1924), Manfred (1925), Hall Mark (1933), Ajax (1937), Todman (1957), Wiggle (1958), Noholme (1959), Sky High (1960), Time And Tide (1963), Storm Queen (1966), Vain (1969), Baguette (1970), Luskin Star (1977), Red Anchor (1984), Bounding Away (1986), Triscay (1990), Pierro (2012) and Prized Icon (2016).
* Youngsters who have claimed the juvenile triple crown: Pierro (2012), Dance Hero (2004), Burst (1992), Tierce (1991), Luskin Star (1977) and Baguette (1970)
* One of five Group One races for two-year-olds in Australia each season.
TALKING POINTS:
* 28 winners since 1983 have come through the Sires’ Produce Stakes at Randwick. King’s Legacy, Glenfiddich, Aim and Ole Kirk are coming through this year’s Sires’ Produce
* King’s Legacy is favourite to add the Champagne to his Group One Sires’ Produce Stakes win
* Hugh Bowman, who rides King’s Legacy, is attempting to win all three of Sydney’s Group Ones for two-year-olds this year having won the Sires’ Produce on King’s Legacy and Golden Slipper on Farnan
* Group Three Baillieu Handicap winner Holyfield is one of three last-start winners in the field along with King’s Legacy and Untamed
KEY COMMENTS:
“We’ve had a great season and won a lot of the races but that Group One juvenile win still eludes us so hopefully it’s this weekend,” – stable representative Annabel Neasham who will saddle up Holyfield for co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
“It was a bit of a funny race the other day, they went a frantic pace early, it was a really fast-run race. It was run to suit him but I think he’s a quality horse and I don’t think it’s as strong a field as the Sires’ field,” – jockey Hugh Bowman on King’s Legacy
“I thought his last 200 metres was good in the Sires’. They got away from him around the turn and in the early part of the straight, but he stuck to the task late,” – Glenfiddich’s trainer Robbie Griffiths
