Emotional First Running of the Verry Elleegant Stakes: Fangirl Favoured to Honour Stablemate

The newly minted 2024 Verry Elleegant Stakes, formerly known as the Chipping Norton Stakes, casts an emotional shadow over Royal Randwick this Saturday.

Fangirl wins the 2024 Apollo Stakes

Fangirl is tipped to go one better than her second in last year’s race leading markets on the 2024 Verry Elleegant Stakes this weekend. Photo: Steve Hart.

The renamed Group 1 race pays tribute to the recently deceased champion mare, Verry Elleegant, who dominated the previous iterations in 2021 and 2022.

The spirit of Verry Elleegant is expected to linger as Chris Waller‘s stable aims to claim victory in her honour.

Fangirl, a three-time Group 1 winner, stands as the clear favourite at $1.50 through Ladbrokes, looking to redeem herself after finishing second in the same race last year.

Fangirl’s recent form is compelling.

She dominated the Group 2 Apollo Stakes last month and boasts a strong record at Randwick over the 1600m distance, including a win in the prestigious King Charles III Stakes.

Top jockey James McDonald will be in the saddle, guiding her from barrier seven.

While Fangirl holds the favour, challengers exist.

Just Fine, trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, is undefeated at Randwick and returns from a Group 1 win in The Metropolitan over the spring last year.

The veteran galloper Think It Over, trained by Kerry Parker, also presents a threat, having previously bested Fangirl at this track and distance in the $1 million 7 Stakes.

The Verry Elleegant Stakes is set to run as Randwick Race 7 at 4:00pm (AEDT) on Saturday.

Other horses to watch include Buckaroo ($11) also hailing from the Waller camp and the James Cummings-trained champ Cascadian ($16).

2024 Verry Elleegant Stakes Field

No Last 10 Horse Trainer Jockey Barrier Weight Probable Weight Penalty Hcp Rating
1 241x6316x3 THINK IT OVER Kerry Parker Nash Rawiller 3 59kg 120
2 4x5213x7x9 CASCADIAN (GB) James Cummings Tom Marquand 9 59kg 114
3 x77114x0x7 ARAPAHO (FR) Bjorn Baker Zac Lloyd (a) 8 59kg 109
4 x143x275x5 BUCKAROO (GB) Chris Waller Tommy Berry 1 59kg 107
5 6061x1110x JUST FINE (IRE) Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott Regan Bayliss 2 59kg 106
6 222x0180x4 NAVAJO PEAK David Payne Jason Collett 4 59kg 106
7 210x0488x6 LINDERMANN Chris Waller Tim Clark 5 59kg 102
8 Px9911872x ATHABASCAN (FR) John O’Shea Tyler Schiller 6 59kg 99
9 27x13174x1 FANGIRL Chris Waller James McDonald 10 57kg 119
10 6Px52021x8 ATISHU (NZ) Chris Waller Kerrin McEvoy 7 57kg 114

Table Credit: Racing Australia.


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