Yulong caps big spring with another Group 1 spring victory with Kimochi in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes

Yulong added another Group 1 success to its spring haul when $2.2m purchase Kimochi took out the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.

Kimochi (green and white) runs down Another Wil to win the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield. Picture: Vince Caligiuri/Getty Images

The irrepressible Yulong operation continued its bumper spring in Saturday’s Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes at Caulfield.

Cox Plate winner Via Sistina, VRC Oaks winner Treasurethe Moment, Underwood Stakes winner Deny Knowledge all carried Yulong’s green and white silks to Group 1 wins during the spring before Kimochi joined that group in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.

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Like Via Sistina and Deny Knowledge, Yulong bought Kimochi at auction, paying $2.2m for the mare at a Gold Coast sale mid-year.

Kimochi ran second to Joliestar in last year’s Thousand Guineas and had won at Group 2 and Group 3 level but finally scored in top-level company with jockey Craig Williams in the saddle.

Kimochi ran down the sentimental and market favourite Another Wil to score by a long neck, giving Williams a record seventh win in the Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.

KIMOCHI WINS THE SIR RUPERT CLARKE STAKES!@GaryPortelli wins his 2nd Sir Rupert Clarke and @CWilliamsJockey makes it seven! 🔥@YulongInvestpic.twitter.com/3VuK9wOZJu

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) November 16, 2024

• What the jockeys said: 2024 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes

Sydney trainer Gary Portelli, who also won the race with Rebel Dane in 2013, said dropping from the 1600m of her last run in the Empire Rose Stakes at Flemington was one of the factors that led to Kimochi’s upset win at $26.

“Back to the 1400m, no weight on her back, champion ride. It was a brilliant ride from barrier 13 to get one off (the fence),” Portelli said.

“Light weight on her back, we didn’t draw where we wanted to draw but what a great ride, it made up the difference.”

Portelli said winning a Group 1 race was not only important for large-scale clients like Yulong but the rest of his Warwick Farm-based business.

“There was a bit of pressure on us, Yulong have been on fire with their famous colours in the last few weeks,” Portelli said.

We’re only a small stable and most of our owners are just mums and dads who want to get involved in racing.

“So for us to get a Group 1 gives them confidence that any horse that comes through our stable, we can get them to win at this level.”

Another Wil’s rider Jamie Kah said the firming track after nine races on a hot and breezy day at Caulfield played against her mount late in the race.

“So close. Can’t ask for much more,” Kah said.

“Just the drying track probably pulled him up a little bit in the last hundred but he’ll win one soon.”

The $3.20 second favourite Jimmysstar had no luck in the straight before finishing 10th.

“Disastrous, held up for clear running on straightening and went to the line under canter,” Jimmysstar’s jockey Damian Lane said.

Stable handful repays Preusker

Old-fashioned bush toughness won the prize in Saturday’s $500,000 Country Cups Final at Caulfield.

Horsham-trained galloper Torranzino gave his rivals a start and chased them for 800m before getting up in the last few bounds for trainer Paul Preusker.

Torranzino, who was first emergency at Caulfield, narrowly missed a similar windfall in the Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final at Flemington on Oaks Day.

However, stepping up to 2000m was the difference as the five-year-old outlasted the Ciaron Maher-trained Charterhouse un apprentice Celine Gaudray’s urgings to win by a half-neck.

Preusker said Torranzino was hard work around the stable but had undeniable ability.

Torranzino over the top wins the Victorian Country Cups Final! 💪

Celine Gaudray for Paul Preusker 👏 pic.twitter.com/rXhKNTb4X0

— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) November 16, 2024

“He’s been a handful. He’s brutal tough,” Preusker said.

“(He’s) quite a difficult horse, but in saying that, a good galloper.

“Full credit to Celine. I had the gut feel that she’d be the right girl for the job for a while.”

Gaudray said Torranzino’s lack of early speed was offset by the fact she was able to find the better ground out wide in the straight.

“He wanted to overrace and wobble around. I had to do my best to keep him straight. He does want to lay in,” Gaudray said.

“The track was starting to deteriorate on the inside and I was probably on the better part of the surface.”

Preusker said Torranzino was an oddball but had astounding recovery powers and would have no trouble bouncing back from his exertions at a hot and windy Caulfield.

He said the son NZ-based stallion could have a crack at another $500,000 race early next month.

“He’ll go home tonight, he’ll eat, and he’ll be bucking tomorrow,” Preusker said.

“That’s just him.

“Whether he’s mentally quite right, I don’t know.

“We’ll keep plodding along and I thought if he won today we might go to the Ballarat Cup.”

Originally published as Yulong caps big spring with another Group 1 spring victory with Kimochi in the Group 1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes