Australia: Princess Grace is caught at wire, places 2nd in Winx

Princess Grace, the 6-year-old mare who won five graded stakes in the U.S. before she was sold and moved to Australia, barely missed Saturday in her bid to win for the first time in a top-level race and her first time facing males.

Making her third start since China Horse Club bought her, Princess Grace (14-1) led late but was caught at the wire by her stablemate Fangirl (7-2) in Saturday’s Group 1, US$637,741 Winx Stakes covering about seven furlongs of soft turf at Royal Randwick in Sydney.

Breaking from the rail post and racing in mid-pack early, Princess Grace took jockey Brett Prebble on a ground-saving trip around the one right turn. By the time the field of 16 hit the top of the stretch, Prebble had the 6-year-old Karakontie mare charging to within two lengths of the lead of fading pacesetter Lindermann (12-1).

Responding to right-handed urging, Princess Grace got to the front with a furlong to go. All the while, James McDonald was riding 5-year-old mare Fangirl down the middle of the track, closing from 11th place, drawing even in the last two strides and ultimately winning by a neck.

“We were a long way apart, but I thought I had won,” Prebble said. “She has gone outstanding in the worst part of the track.”

With no run-up, the winning time was 1:24.11 for the 1,400 meters, nine yards short of seven furlongs.

The result gave Chris Waller his 150th Group 1 victory and an exacta in the weight-for-age event named for the legendary mare he trained to four Australia championships. The first Group 1 race of the nation’s 2023-24 racing season used to be known as the Warwick Stakes before Winx won it for a third consecutive time in 2018.

Zaaki (7-2), an 8-year-old gelding who was a narrow, post-time favorite in the North America win pool, relinquished his deep-stretch lead to Princess Grace and finished another head back in third. Hinged (10-1), a 5-year-old mare also trained by Waller, was yet another half-length up the track in fourth. Each of Waller’s mares carried four fewer pounds than Zaaki. Osipenko (30-1), a 4-year-old colt also in Waller’s barn, finished fifth.

Waller said he intends to wheel Princess Grace back in two weeks for the US$637,741 Memsie Stakes (G1) covering seven furlongs on Sept. 2 at left-turning Caulfield in Melbourne.

Princess Grace was making her first start following a four-month break for the southern winter. After China Horse Club bought her for $1.7 million last fall at a Fasig-Tipton sale in Kentucky, she made her first two Australia starts in April, finishing third in the Sapphire (G2) and winning the Hawkesbury Crown (G3) just two weeks apart.

As a Kentucky homebred of Susan and John Moore, Princess Grace made her biggest impression for trainer Michael Stidham with a four-race winning streak. After her score in the 2020 Mrs. Revere (G2) and an eight-month break, she won the Dr. James Penny Memorial (G3) at Parx Racing, the Yellow Ribbon Handicap (G2) at Del Mar and the Ladies Turf (G3) at Kentucky Downs, all in 2021. She was successful in her defense of the Penny Memorial in 2022 before seconds in the Beverly D. (G1) and Ladies Turf and a third-place finish in the First Lady (G1) at Keeneland.

Princess Grace earned US$121,163 for finishing second Saturday, bringing her career total to $1,669,648 from a record of 16: 8-4-4.