Sydney’s dominant jockey-trainer partnership of James McDonald and Chris Waller matched two of Australian racing’s prized benchmarks when Aeliana delivered an exciting victory in the Group 1 $1 million Ranvet Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Aeliana handed McDonald his 129th Group 1 success in his career, tying the mark for an Australia-based jockey previously set by Hall of Famer Damien Oliver.
McDonald partnered with Waller to secure their 54th Group 1 triumph as a team, matching the legendary pairing of George Moore and Tommy Smith.
The top jockey and the Hall of Fame trainer would break both records outright merely 35 minutes afterward with Autumn Boy in the Group 1 $750,000 Rosehill Guineas (2000m).
Yet Aeliana paved the way for the day’s achievements for McDonald and Waller, even though her stable companion Lindermann almost disrupted the festivities by forcing the mare to battle intensely for the prize.
McDonald acknowledged that the short neck triumph was “not how the script’s supposed to go” for his record-tying 129th Group 1 victory.
“Aeliana is just incredible, her tenacity to find the line was just superb,” McDonald said.
“She’s been building to something like that and I’ve got to give credit to the second horse because they made us work.
“Nash (Rawiller, rider of Lindermann) is a genius when it comes to race tempo. He got things on his own terms, and Damian (Lane, rider of Trinity College) was just sitting off him the whole way.
“It wasn’t ideal, that’s for sure, because he had a picnic up in front. But I was on a good horse and she deservedly won that one.”
The $1.60 market leader Aeliana needed the entire Rosehill straight to catch the determined leader Lindermann ($16), prevailing by a short neck and handing Waller yet another Group 1 quinella.
Sir Delius ($3), guided by Craig Williams, followed Aeliana throughout the contest and seemed the primary threat at the bend, but failed to narrow the distance, finishing over a length back in third.
Waller, who notched his 190th career Group 1 success, admitted Aeliana was forced to “fight for it” while the Slipper Day audience cheered wildly during the stablemates’ intense showdown.
“The crowd was awesome, that’s what racing’s all about,” Waller said.
“These great horses being everyone together to enjoy the sport and that was a great spectacle.
“He’s (Lindermann) a good horse on his day and I think Nash controlled the race really well.
“Aeliana had to be good to win and obviously Sir Delius on our back, that gave me a bit of a scare when he came with us.
“But you could just see, they sort of broke clear of him and then it was a fight between the stablemates.
“It didn’t really matter who won but obviously for James today – it’s a big one.”
Waller and McDonald notched their initial Group 1 victory together with Delectation back in 2015, making 54 majors over 11 years a remarkable feat for the trainer and jockey.
“I’m just lucky to train lots of good horses and have an association with a terrific young man,” Waller said.
Following her dominant Derby triumph, Aeliana had gone without a win this campaign heading into the Ranvet, but placed second in four Group contests behind horses like Via Sistina and Autumn Glow; her Group 1 breakthrough proved a crowd-pleasing and justified result.
Aeliana races for Denise Martin’s Star Thoroughbreds, extending the top syndicator’s achievements on Golden Slipper Day.
Martin’s star colt Sebring captured the 2008 Golden Slipper, and Aeliana marked her third Ranvet Stakes victor after Theseo claimed back-to-back editions in 2009-10.
Waller has not dismissed running Aeliana again in the Group 1 $1.5 million Tancred Stakes (2400m) at Rosehill next Saturday.
“I’m not sure about the Tancred but the distance is no problem,” Martin said.”A seven-day back-up isn’t ideal but I will see how a few others go today and then we will try to map it all out tomorrow.”
Rawiller noted Lindermann delivered “an amazing performance” in taking runner-up spot so narrowly.
“He picked himself up off the canvas there at the 100m and really rallied,” Rawiller said.
“I thought for a stride we could worry her out of it but she is a top mare in her own right.”
Craig Williams, aboard Sir Delius, anticipates the $5 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) at Royal Randwick on April 11.
“Sir Delius is flying,” Williams said.”The winner beat us by three and a bit lengths the other day so we shortened that margin down to about a length.”He felt like he still has more racing improvement to come on and he’s right in line for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes now.”
Explore the Australian betting sites for top racing betting markets on the Ranvet Stakes.