Swiftfalcon for Spring Champion Stakes

By Michael Wrona, International Racing Expert

Following last weekend’s record-breaking success of The Everest, which included a 49,000-strong crowd singing Sweet Caroline before the $20 million race, top-class racing continues at Randwick this Friday night with a 10-race card featuring the G1 Spring Champion Stakes. Rachel King, who rode the Spring Champion winner in 2018, has seven mounts on the 10-race card before flying to California for the Breeders’ Cup. The average win odds for all Australian races offered in North America across the past 12 months is +700 (7-1), meaning that fans don’t need many winners to show a profit. First post this Friday is 9:30 p.m. Eastern / 6:30 Pacific. Enjoy the action on FanDuel TV or skyracingworld.com.

Few “prep” races anywhere in the world have proven a more productive pipeline to a specific Group/Grade 1 race than the Gloaming Stakes to the Spring Champion – the Gloaming exacta has produced 10 of the last 14 winners. This year’s G3 Gloaming Stakes, at 1-1/8 miles, saw El Castello (6-1) narrowly hold out the hard-charging Swiftfalcon (8-5). Their odds are understandably closer in the Spring Champion Stakes (Race 7), at 3-1 and 5-2 respectively. Friday night’s extra furlong, combined with the switch from Rosehill to roomier Royal Randwick, should benefit Swiftfalcon after he was taken back to last early in the Gloaming from a wide gate. Co-trainer Michael Hawkes declared, prior to this week’s post position draw, that “he just needs to draw a barrier (good gate) and it’s his for the taking.” Result? Gate 11 of 11. To compound problems for Swiftfalcon, the race is bereft of pace. Indeed, El Castello might inherit the lead in company with a 50-1 chance named Noises.

With the exception of 150-1 shot Flying Argento, the field is untested at the Spring Champion’s 10-furlong distance. From a breeding standpoint, El Castello is well equipped as a son of 2019 runner-up Castelvecchio (whose half-sister, Maid of Heaven, won the race in 2018). Henlein (4-1) and Duvana (15-1) were sired by 2012 Spring Champion winner Dundeel, who is proving a major long-distance influence at stud. Henlein was strongly fancied in the Gloaming Stakes and, like Swiftfalcon, got too far back from a wide draw. However, unlike Swiftfalcon, he failed to make up any threatening ground. Of four fillies in the field, Harlem Queen (5-1) commands respect off a 2nd-place finish in the G1 Flight Stakes. Fillies have won three of the last eight Spring Champion Stakes, each time exiting the one-mile Flight Stakes (making the Flight the second-best predictor of Spring Champion glory in recent history).

The Spring Champion’s purse of AU$2 million is matched by Race 8, a Group 2 event for fillies and mares at seven furlongs named The Invitation. Little separates #1 Zougotcha, #4 Magic Time (3rd last year) and #5 Olentia atop the market. Zougotcha scratched from last weekend’s G1 King Charles Stakes, at a mile, to face her own sex this Friday night. The mare will be ridden by brilliant Brazilian jockey Joao Moreira, who – given his nickname – might have more appropriately been booked for Magic Time. Even prior to taking Hong Kong racing by storm over the past decade, Moreira had earned the nickname “Magic Man” in Singapore. And Moreira has magically scored the prized mount on next week’s Golden Eagle favorite Ascoli Piceno, one of four international raiders targeting Australia’s second-richest race. The Golden Eagle, restricted to 4-year-olds, will be run at Rosehill next Friday night for a purse of AU$10 million.

Meanwhile, this Friday’s 9th race includes Rachel King’s best mount, #11 Iknowastar (5-1). King, born in England but well entrenched in the Sydney riding colony after a decade Down Under, will become the first Australia-based jockey to ride at the Breeders’ Cup when she partners Japanese colt Satono Carnaval in the Juvenile Turf next Friday.

The Randwick card will be broadcast live on FanDuel TV this Friday night (First Post: 9:30 p.m. ET / 6:30 p.m. PT) alongside cards from Doomben, Kembla Grange and Ascot. All races will be live-streamed in HD on the Sky Racing World App, skyracingworld.com and major ADW platforms such as TVG, TwinSpires, Xpressbet, NYRABets, WatchandWager, HPIbet, FanDuel and AmWager. Wagering is also available via these ADW platforms. Fans can get free access to live-streaming, past performances, and expert picks on all races at skyracingworld.com.

About Michael Wrona

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