‘She looks such a brute at the moment’: Warning to Via Sistina’s 2025 Apollo Stakes rivals at Royal Randwick on Saturday

James McDonald says it will “take an extremely good horse to beat” Via Sistina when the star mare continues her quest for horse of the year honours in Saturday’s Apollo Stakes.

Via Sistina is earning comparisons with some of the champions of Australian racing as she continues her quest for Horse of the Year honours at Royal Randwick on Saturday.

Trainer Chris Waller’s outstanding mare can further enhance her growing reputation and take another significant step towards securing the sport’s most coveted title when she resumes in the Group 2 $300,000 Apollo Stakes (1400m).

A former Group 1 winner of the prestigious Pretty Polly Stakes in Ireland, Via Sistina – owned by Yuesheng Zhang’s global racing and breeding powerhouse Yulong – joined the Waller stable last year and won five Group 1 races from just seven starts, including four majors in spring.

Waller said the short turnaround from spring to autumn meant Via Sistina was quite forward for the Apollo Stakes, with the mare given two barrier trials and an exhibition gallop to prepare for her return.

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After the Apollo Stakes, Via Sistina is expected to have another three starts in autumn, all at Group 1 level, in the Verry Elleegant Stakes, either the Ranvet Stakes or George Ryder Stakes, and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

“I’d be leaning to the Ranvet with her but she’s pretty versatile and I’ll just see what she needs to go into the Queen Elizabeth which is obviously the Grand Final,’’ Waller said.

Vin Cox, the general manager of Yulong, said Via Sistina has improved since joining the Waller stables.

“Her race record in Europe was very good but she has gone to another level here,’’ Cox said.

“Being by Fastnet Rock, it is a horses for courses type formula. She has really excelled since coming to these shores.’’

Via Sistina (@mcacajamez), Fangirl (Jason Collett) and Atishu (@ZacLloydx) galloped at Randwick not long ago!@cwallerracing | @aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/j8eBr8Xxdr

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 8, 2025

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Via Sistina arrived in Sydney to join the Waller stable last year and won the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at her Australian debut before finishing second behind Pride Of Jenni in an epic Queen Elizabeth Stakes last autumn.

Then last spring, Via Sistina emerged as the nation’s best racehorse with a string of outstanding performances starting with her first-up win in the Group 1 Winx Stakes.

She then struggled on a very wet Flemington track surface when unplaced in the Makybe Diva Stakes before reeling off a hat-trick of Group 1 wins in the Turnbull Stakes, Cox Plate and Champions Stakes.

Her Cox Plate win was extraordinary. She thrashed her rivals including Japan’s world-class Prognosis by eight lengths and ran the 2040m in a stunning 2m 01.7s, shattering the race and track record held by the mighty Winx.

“It’s a privilege to be training a horse like her, to have won a Cox Plate in a track record and just the way she did it,’’ Waller said.

🏆 Via Sistina v Winx 🏆

Their two Cox Plate track records side-by-side is incredible viewing 🙌 pic.twitter.com/1xvBXt39xY

— Racing.com (@Racing) October 26, 2024

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Via Sistina’s effort to win four Group 1 races during spring is an outstanding achievement that has gone largely unheralded.

To put Via Sistina’s dominant spring carnival into perspective, since the Pattern system of Group and Listed race classifications was introduced in 1978, she became only the fourth horse to win four Group 1 races before the end of the Sydney-Melbourne spring carnivals.

Via Sistina has joined a very select club alongside Anamoe, Winx and So You Think.

Godolphin champion Anamoe, trained by James Cummings, won his four majors – Winx Stakes, George Main Stakes, Caulfield Stakes and Cox Plate – during the 2022 spring carnival.

Waller’s super mare Winx, arguably the greatest of them all, won four races at Group 1 level during the 2018 spring carnival commencing with the race renamed in her honour, the Winx (formerly Warwick) Stakes, then the George Main Stakes, Turnbull Stakes and Cox Plate.

So You Think, the last champion trained by the late Bart Cummings, dominated the 2010 spring carnival winning the Underwood Stakes, Caulfield Stakes, Cox Plate and Mackinnon Stakes.

Anamoe, Winx and So You Think also had something else in common – the trio all earned Horse of the Year honours the same season as their spring carnival heroics.

  

So, if Via Sistina wins the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, or another one or two Group 1 races along the way, she will surely clinch 2024-25 Horse of the Year honours, if she hasn’t done so already.

If Via Sistina can win three autumn carnival majors, she will equal Winx’s record of seven Group 1 wins in a season set in 2018-19, her farewell season.

There are more Group 1 races held in the modern era – 76 majors in 2024-25 compared to 54 when the Pattern system was introduced in 1978 – but Via Sistina’s spring big-race haul compares favourably with the greats of yesteryear.

In fact, only two horses have won more than four Group 1 races before the end of the Sydney-Melbourne spring carnivals, Hall of Famers Rising Fast and Tulloch.

This comparison is open for interpretation as many races from previous eras have been deleted but a starting point is to include wins from races that were allocated Group 1 status in 1978-79, and not those races that have subsequently been upgraded.

Rising Fast’s incomparable 1954 spring campaign included his five-race Group 1 winning streak in the Caulfield Stakes, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, Mackinnon Stakes and Melbourne Cup. He also won the Turnbull Stakes which was a Group 2 for many years.

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Tulloch was unbeatable during his three-year-old spring campaign in 1957 where he won five majors in a row in the Rosehill Guineas, AJC (now ATC Australian) Derby, Caulfield Guineas, Caulfield Cup and Victoria Derby. He also won the Warwick (now Winx) Stakes which was originally a Group 2 then after the Melbourne spring, he won another Group 1 in the Queensland Derby.

Via Sistina has a virtual lock on Horse of the Year unless a rival completely dominates the autumn carnival and repeatedly defeats Waller’s mare.

James McDonald, Via Sistina’s regular rider, is at Flemington on Saturday to partner crack colt Switzerland in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes, but he recently provided an insight into how well the mare has done leading into her Apollo Stakes return.

“Via Sistina is coming up in tremendous order,’’ McDonald said.

“She’s looks such a brute at the moment, she is striding out ears pricked and loving life, and that’s what she was like in the springtime as well.

“Hopefully, she has come back in great order and all the indications are she has – it’s going to take an extremely good horse to beat her.’’

Via Sistina (James McDonald) romps home to win the Champions Stakes at Flemington in November last year. Picture: George Sal / Racing Photos

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Kerrin McEvoy, who rode Via Sistina to win the Group 1 Winx Stakes last spring, has the ride on the mare in the Apollo Stakes. TAB Fixed Odds price assessors have her as the $2 favourite ahead of Ceolwulf at $3.80 and another Waller-trained mare, Fangirl at $4.20.

Via Sistina’s international reputation has her high on the priority list of Royal Ascot officials keen to recruit Australian equine talent for the famous English race carnival but Cox said it was unlikely the mare would return to the northern hemisphere.

“If we are thinking of retiring her, then that’s a chance,’’ Cox said of an overseas campaign.

“But if we took the view the spring carnival here is on the cards then that would take Royal Ascot out of play.’’

🏇 Memorable Racing Moments 2⃣0⃣2⃣4⃣...

We knew Via Sistina was good... but this win in the Winx Stakes over the unsuitable 1400m gave us the first glimpses that she could be truly great! @cwallerracingpic.twitter.com/RapbMZFs8W

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 29, 2024

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Via Sistina is a rising eight-year-old mare and is getting to an age where a new career as a broodmare becomes a very real option but the good news for Australian race fans is that retirement plans are likely to be put on hold so she can race on for at least another season.

“While she is racing well, we will look to keep her going next season,’’ Cox said.

“More particularly with mares their earning potential on the racetrack is greater than in the breeding barn.

“With colts, they can breed up to 200 mares a year but a mare can only have one foal.

“So, if she is competing and wanting to race then I can’t see any reason why we would not continue on with her next season.

“All the signs are good so far but we will get through the autumn first.’’

■ ■ ■ ■ ■

ROYAL ASCOT KEEN TO LURE VIA SISTINA, CEOLWULF

Ceolwulf wins the King Charles III Stakes at Royal Randwick last October. Picture: Bradley Photos

Royal Ascot’s international equine recruiter Nick Smith will roll out the red carpet for the connections of Sydney’s multiple Group 1 winners Via Sistina and Ceolwulf to compete at England’s famous racing carnival later this year.

On the eve of the Via Sistina-Ceolwulf showdown for the Group 2 $300,000 Apollo Stakes (1400m) at Royal Randwick on Saturday, Smith revealed he had already reached out to Yulong’s Vin Cox about taking Via Sistina back to England for Royal Ascot in June.

“I have spoken to Vin,’’ Smith said. “I’d say it’s unlikely but I’ll certainly be trying to convince them.

“Via Sistina is a global superstar, has already been second in an Ascot Group 1, and would be close to the top of the market in the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes or the King George, which is worth £1.5 million now (about $A3 million).

“I’m a huge fan of Ceolwulf and would love to see him in the Queen Anne. It was a fabulous performance by him in the King Charles III Stakes at Randwick last spring.

🏇 Memorable Racing Moments 2⃣0⃣2⃣4⃣...

You got the sense that @PrideRacing's Ceolwulf was on the verge of something big during the spring. After taking the TAB Epsom he was still underrated in betting markets for the King Charles III... then he and @SchofieldChad did this 👇 pic.twitter.com/Uujzb1NC1F

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) December 25, 2024

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“Mr Brightside is another one and there are a few more milers who could compete, at least, but we’ve not had a lot of luck in this area.

“There seems to be a perception that our milers are just better but I’m not sure that necessarily stacks up with this generation in Australia.’’

Smith usually attends the Lightning Stakes meeting at Flemington each year to issue Royal Ascot invitations to the owners of our best sprinters but he won’t be trackside on Saturday.

Instead, Smith revealed he would be in Sydney for the Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill on March 22 with the express intention of trying to have Australia’s best two-year-old race at Royal Ascot.

“Due to the program changes in Dubai, myself, Ed Arkell (Goodwood) and William Derby (York) are coming for the Golden Slipper and Australian Cup this autumn,’’ Smith said.

“I’m looking forward to the Slipper as we are trying to push the Commonwealth Cup for Australian two-year-olds. James Cummings has always shown a lot of interest in that concept.’’

Smith is also hoping to attract a number of Australian-trained sprinters to Royal Ascot this year and has The Everest winner Bella Nipotina, brilliant three-year-old Switzerland and talented mare Isthmus among his preferred choices.

“As ever the Lightning Stakes and Newmarket Handicap will prove informative,’’ Smith said.

“There’s good interest again after Nature Strip and Home Affairs revived the Australian participation (at Royal Ascot).

“I know Ciaron Maher is keen to return after it didn’t work out with Coolangatta, and hopefully Asfoora will return too.’’

Originally published as ‘She looks such a brute at the moment’: Warning to Via Sistina’s 2025 Apollo Stakes rivals at Royal Randwick on Saturday