| Bold front runner Apache Chase provided his trainer and sire with their first wins at Group One level courtesy of a heart racing win in today’s Kingsford-Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm. |
| With his customary “catch me if you can” tactics, Apache Chase was able to outlast a crack field to the cheers of connections and local punters. Despite concerted challenges from Paulele, Rothfire and Holyfield and a late charging Eleven Eleven, Apache Chase withstood all to get home for a famous victory. Local trainer Desleigh Forster couldn’t contain her excitement in the moments after the race, fist pumping from the ground just metres from the outside rail as celebrations started. “All I said to J Byrne was ‘don’t go slow’. Use his speed, use his gate, dig him and send him, get to the three and let him go,” Forster said. “If they are good enough to run past him, they are good enough but if they are not, too bad. They weren’t a hope, they just left him in front and he just walked.” “He means the world to me,” Forster said of Apache Chase. “I dared to dream!” “I’ve only got a small team. I can name them all on one hand. This is for everyone. My Mum will be ecstatic. She’ll probably be crying on the couch!” Forster paid tribute to the Sherrin family who race the horse. “They’ve been so good to me. They’ve trusted me with this horse. We could have sold this horse 18 months ago.” “Mike said ‘do you think he can win a Group One’ and I said ‘yeah’.” The win was the first in the race for star local rider Jim Byrne and it meant plenty because of the close relationship he holds with the horse and his trainer. “It was just going back to basics,” Byrne noted. “Des spoke to us beforehand and she said let’s just go back to basics and ride the horse the way we know that he can do it.” “It’s pretty special to be able to win a Group One for Des. We’re pretty tight, we’ve been tight for a lot of years and I’ve got to say this is really close to my heart today,” Byrne added. Owner Michael Sherrin purchased Apache Chase for $50,000 from the Eureka Stud draft at the 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale. The son of Lyndhurst Stud Farm’s top performing sire Better Than Ready is a half brother to group winning sire Churchill Downs. They’re both from the Diesis mare Silken Whisper, a one time winner over a mile and a quarter at Sandown in the UK. Silken Whisper is a daughter of the stakes winning Green Dancer mare Yaguda – herself a half sister to three other stakes performers. Further back in the family is the Sydney based, three time Group One winner Forbidden Love – a mare who sold through the same sale ring just two months earlier in January, 2019. Better Than Ready, the sire of Apache Chase, has been a revelation for breeders across Queensland for many seasons. He’s sired 174 winners including six classy stakes winners. Apache Chase wasn’t the only Magic Millions graduate to star on the massive Eagle Farm card with Splendiferous (Pride of Dubai), Bigboyroy (Dissident) and Sheeza Belter (Gold Standard) among the big race winners. Splendiferous, a $100,000 Gold Coast Yearling Sale buy for James Bester on behalf of an all female ownership group, added another feature to her resume with a thrilling win in the Group Three Premier’s Cup. She was sold through the Aquis Farm draft. Not long after it was the turn of Bigboyroy, a $120,000 Gold Coast Yearling Sale buy from Newgate Farm, to score a dominant win in the Lord Mayor’s Cup at Group Three level. Earlier this year Bigboyroy won the Magic Millions Open (1800m) on The Star Gold Coast Magic Millions Raceday. Sheeza Belter, who earlier this year flew home to win the Magic Millions WA 2YO Classic, provided her owners with a serious payday with a brilliant win in the $1 million Group Two Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m). Part owned by her purchaser Justin Warwick, Sheeza Belter was a $50,000 Perth Yearling Sale buy from the Mt Hallowell Stud draft. Winner: Apache Chase Breeding: Better Than Ready-Silken Whisper (Diesis) Race: BRC Kingsford-Smith Cup G1 (1300m) Sold for: $50,000 Sale: 2019 Magic Millions Gold Coast March Yearling Sale Vendor: Eureka Stud Buyer: Michael Sherrin Earnings: $1,999,325 Owner: Mr MP Sherrin Trainer: Desleigh Forster (Eagle Farm) |
