2024 Spring Champion Stakes: Trainer Nathan Doyle looks for Group 1 victory with Harlem Queen

Nathan Doyle has steadily built his Newcastle stable into a formidable force but major success at Royal Randwick on Saturday will help him reach the final frontier.

Nathan Doyle has steadily built his Newcastle stable into a formidable force but major success at Royal Randwick on Saturday will help him reach the final frontier.

Doyle has cracked more than half a century of winners for each of the past three seasons and boasts one of the best strike rates of any trainer in the state.

The emerging conditioner is eager to take his yard to the next level and could take a significant step in that direction when he saddles up his second Group 1 starter.

Lightly-raced filly Harlem Queen will hunt for major glory in the $2 million Spring Champion Stakes (2000m).

Doyle has put the polish on the daughter of Brutal since she was a yearling and has been hopeful she could make her mark.

• PUNT LIKE A PRO: Become a Racenet iQ member and get expert tips – with fully transparent return on investment statistics – from Racenet’s team of professional punters at our Pro Tips section. SUBSCRIBE NOW!

“These are the first young ones coming through that I’ve had from the start,” Doyle said.

“We’ve had a bit of second-hand stock that we’ve had success with but you need those young babies coming through.

“You can put your polish on them from the start and that’s where you end up getting the better ones while your tried ones or second-hand ones do have ceilings.

“You can get them in town but they do have ceilings where the young ones, you don’t know where they will end up.”

Harlem Queen is already Group 1-placed after finishing best of the rest behind Lady Shenandoah in the Flight Stakes at just her fifth start.

She was no match for the winner but Doyle was rapt with the way she hit the line.

Make way for the lady!

Lady Shenandoah makes a mess of the G1 Flight Stakes with a dominant win for @ZacLloydx and @cwallerracing!@aus_turf_clubpic.twitter.com/GAlwl6Ber6

— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) October 5, 2024

• She’s Due: Seib plots Group 1 breakthrough in Spring Champion

“The small field and the sit-and-sprint style of the race probably didn’t suit her,” Doyle said.

“The winner is a very good filly and when she sprinted, she just dropped us and we got back into it in that last 100m.

“That last 100m was best.”

Fillies have a good record in the Spring Champion Stakes in recent times.

Yankee Rose was the first filly to win the race in 2016 with Maid Of Heaven (2018) and Montefilia (2020) also tasting success.

All three of those fillies used the Flight Stakes as a springboard into the Spring Champion Stakes and Doyle expects Harlem Queen to thrive off a similar preparation.

“She looks like she will relish the 2000m,” Doyle said.

“She was strong at the back end of the mile and I can’t fault her.

“I think the gate will be OK and she is a filly that will benefit from a bit of room.

“She will head down to Sydney in good order and acquit herself well.”

• ‘It doesn’t make a hell of a lot of sense’: Champion status at stake on Saturday

Doyle will consider pressing on for a crack at the VRC Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on Thursday, November 7 if all goes to plan for Harlem Queen on Saturday.

“She is still a relatively young three-year-old so if she runs well and pulls up well, we will put her on the Oaks path,” he said.

“Provided she hasn’t come to the end of it and runs out the 2000m, which I think she will do so, then she will head down.”

Sam Clipperton will be chasing his sixth career Group 1 on Harlem Queen after piloting the filly in each of her past two starts.

Harlem Queen is a $6 fourth pick for the Spring Champion Stakes behind a trio of colts and geldings.

• Spring Champion, Cox Plate expert tips

Last start Gloaming Stakes winner El Castello has been supported into $3.70 equal favourite with the Michael, John and Wayne Hawkes-trained Swiftfalcon, who he beat last start in the traditional lead up.

Henlein, a last-start sixth in the Gloaming, is a $4.60 chance with Tommy Berry to pilot the colt from a favourable draw win barrier one.

Harlem Queen is one of four fillies in the race with Rag Queen ($16), Pleasure Artist ($12) and Noises ($41) also set to contest the feature event.

Originally published as 2024 Spring Champion Stakes: Trainer Nathan Doyle looks for Group 1 victory with Harlem Queen