Chris Waller has taken out his seventh Group 1 Turnbull Stakes as Via Sistina ($4.20) edged out stablemate Buckaroo ($5.50) in a close finish to the feature race at Flemington on Saturday afternoon.
The Waller pair entered the race as the second and third favourites with horse racing bookmakers, and the two were left to fight out the finish as they ran over the top of Eliyass ($3.90), who was the market elect.
Damian Lane chose to settle the winner in the three-wide running line throughout and had the runner-up inside, which allowed Lane to dictate to Joao Moreira on Buckaroo in the final 600m.
Both the winner and runner-up ended up making their runs together down the middle of the track and took over from Eliyass and Duke De Sessa ($11) at the 100m mark.
The Waller-trained runners went stride for stride in the concluding stages of the 2000m contest, but it was the mare who would get her down on the line and claim a tough win.
2024 Turnbull Stakes replay – Via Sistina
Charlie Duckworth was on course at Flemington to represent the stable in the post-race interview.
“She was fantastic today. Her run last start was so far away from her true form that you could do nothing else other than put a pen through it,” Duckworth said.
“So we were confident that she would bounce back today and she was tough. Obviously, Buckaroo is the man on the scene at the moment.
“He was going for three wins in a row and he’s dug deep and still been narrowly denied. So fantastic for the whole team.
“To perform like that, it’s pretty special for everyone involved with her.
“Fantastic for Yulong because they really stump up every time and they’ve got an absolute diamond.
“I know everyone was sort of worried about the track and blamed it potentially on the track last start.
“But I think the tempo of the race and the time in which the rain fell made it into a real shifty track rather than a genuine soft track.
“It is a tricky one. Obviously, Ozzie Kheir and Qatar with Sheikh Fahad and David Redvers will make a decision whether they want to rematch around The Valley.
“He did make it pretty tough for her, or whether we step up to a mile and a half.
“We won’t worry about that today. We’ll just enjoy the win and enjoy the placings.”
Damian Lane spoke about the win and was hopeful that he could keep the ride on Via Sistina going forward.
“She obviously was the class horse in the field and I rode her accordingly; albeit I still think she didn’t love the ground.
“It wasn’t as testing as last time out, so I think she can improve again under firmer footing.
“Yeah, I’m not sure. If she goes straight to a Cox Plate, maybe I can’t, but we’ll see.
“I’m sure J-Mac (James McDonald) and K-Mac (Kerrin McEvoy) have got their hands up already, so yeah we’ll see where she goes and work it out from there.
“She’s just got a really big stride in her, she just lengthens I’d say. She just picks up and sustains a really good gallop more than lets rip.
“Buckaroo headed her and she was just really solid through the line, so yeah classy mare.”
Via Sistina is a $6 chance with bookmakers in the Group 1 Cox Plate futures markets.
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