Australia: Fangirl will lead emotional edition of Verry Elleegant

Sydney’s first Group 1 race of the year, to be run Friday night at Royal Randwick, has been renamed in memory of recently deceased champion mare Verry Elleegant.

Emotional scenes are odds-on to unfold, as 1-2 favorite Fangirl races for the trainer-jockey combination which experienced most of Verry Elleegant’s triumphs, Chris Waller and James McDonald. Among five other graded stakes on an outstanding card, global siring sensation Justify is represented by two favorites.

The Verry Elleegant Stakes will be the seventh of 10 races at Randwick, broadcast live by FanDuel TV and Sky Racing World. First post is at 8:30 p.m. EST.

Verry Elleegant, Australian horse of the year for the 2020-21 season, tragically died in Europe on February 18 due to complications giving birth to her first foal. The foal, by Sea The Stars, was also lost. Her regular rider, James McDonald, was moved by the news, admitting “It brought a tear to my eye; I had a big soft spot for her.” The pair won 11 races together, including nine of Verry Elleegant’s 11 Group 1 races, highlighted by the 2021 Melbourne Cup. McDonald continued, “She gave me my greatest day on a racetrack; for her to be gone so early is really, really sad.”

The versatile Verry Elleegant won ten different Group 1 races from seven furlongs to two miles. Her only repeat Group 1 win came in the one-mile Chipping Norton, which was inaugurated 99 years ago and has been swiftly and fittingly renamed in the great mare’s honor for its renewal this Friday night.

Appropriately, Verry Elleegant favoritism rests with a mare trained by Chris Waller and ridden by McDonald. Fangirl spent her 4-year-old season playing second fiddle to 2022-23 Australian horse of the year Anamoe, recording no fewer than four Group 1-or-2 placings behind the Godolphin star. Anamoe’s retirement to stud, combined with Waller’s declaration that Fangirl has only just reached her peak of maturity, sets the stage for the 5-year-old to step from the shadows.

She certainly embraced the spotlight when resuming from a layoff at Randwick in a Group 2 race at seven furlongs, on the same weekend as Verry Elleegant’s passing. The breath-taking nature of Fangirl’s win prompted more than a few observers to recall Chris Waller’s most famous mare of all. Post-race, the master trainer himself uttered the words “It was a bit Winx-like. I am trying to keep a level head about it, but she has certainly come back well.” James McDonald remarked that Verry Elleegant was “very headstrong and wore her heart on her sleeve every time she put her foot on a racetrack.” McDonald and Chris Waller, who is given to open displays of emotion, will likely be wearing their hearts on their sleeves should Fangirl win the Verry Elleegant Stakes. While Fangirl carries conspicuous all-cerise silks, fans attending Randwick are being encouraged to wear a splash of red, a nod to the predominant color of Verry Elleegant’s silks.

Elsewhere on Friday night’s card, American Triple Crown winner Justify is the sire of two favorites: Storm Boy in the G2 Skyline Stakes (G2), carded as race no. 4, and Learning To Fly in the Surround Stakes (G1), which will be run as race no. 8. Both horses impressively won their first three starts, and Storm Boy will carry his undefeated record into a key prep race for the March 22 Golden Slipper, the world’s richest juvenile race. Learning To Fly is a year older, and was three-for-three when breaking from the gate in last year’s Golden Slipper as one of the top wagering choices. Alas, the filly lost her rider mid-race when striking interference and pulled up lame. Trainer Annabel Neasham afforded the now-3-year-old a deliberately slow, patient build-up to her return, and Learning To Fly obliged with a wonderful effort to lose by a head after an 11-month absence in the race immediately following Fangirl’s brilliant win off a layoff, two weeks ago.         

The attention of Peter V’landys will be divided this weekend, as the chief executive of Racing New South Wales is also chairman of the Australian Rugby League Commission. For the first time, a season-opening rugby double-header will be played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas this Saturday. V’landys, an elite administrator who launched the Everest as the world’s richest turf race, is looking to sign a lucrative wagering deal to give Australian Rugby League a permanent foothold in the U.S. The padding-and-helmet-less brand of football will enjoy great exposure to an American audience, by virtue of a live telecast on Fox Sports 1. Yours truly will be cheering the Brisbane Broncos in the second of the two games.

The Randwick card will be broadcast live on FanDuel TV alongside cards from Eagle Farm, Newcastle, Gold Coast and Ascot.

A native of Brisbane, Australia, Michael Wrona has called races in six countries. Michael’s vast U.S. experience includes; race calling at Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park, Arlington and Santa Anita, calling the 2000 Preakness on a national radio network and the 2016 Breeders’ Cup on the International simulcast network. Michael also performed a race call voiceover for a Seinfeld episode called The Subway.

Coverage of Australian racing for Horse Racing Nation is made possible through a sponsorship by Sky Racing World.