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Daughter of Zed adds seventh Group 1 to her glowing CV
Chris Waller’s domination of the Chipping Norton Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) continued on Saturday as his star mare Verry Elleegant (5 m Zed - Opulence by Danroad) added a seventh top-flight win to her glowing CV when she came out on top of a thrilling battle in the Randwick Group 1.
The daughter of Zed (Zabeel) provided Waller with his ninth win in the race since he landed it for the first time in 2011, but he was made to sweat as Verry Elleegant looked to have a lot of ground to make up in the straight. However, she showed her usual guts and guile under James McDonald to beat the James Cummings-trained Group 1 winner Collette (Hallowed Crown) by half a neck, while her fellow Group 1-winning stablemate Avilius (Pivotal) was another head away in third.
Just three-quarters of a length covered the first five over the line, with the Waller-trained pair Funstar (Adelaide) and Kolding (Ocean Park) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
The mare has won 12 of her 27 starts, including last year’s Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) and she has accrued $7,427,768 in career prize-money.
"She's just an unassuming girl that fights like a tiger," Waller said.
"I think it's fitting to be fought out that way because that really is the quality of Verry Elleegant.
"I thought Colette had us cold at the 300 metre mark and I saw Avilius coming with a well-timed run and she was in the middle there. She dug very deep."
Waller said Verry Elleegant was likely to follow the same path as last autumn and head to the Ranvet Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) and Tancred Stakes (Gr 1, 2400m) before a rematch with European visitor and defending title holder Addeybb (Pivotal) in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m).
"He was a great horse last year and he franked her form. He went back home and won on Champions day, which is such a big day in European racing," Waller said.
"It's world-class form."
When asked if those international formlines could tempt him to travel Verry Elleegant overseas, Waller said he wouldn't rule it out but struggled to find reasons to leave Australia.
"I'm not sure. We haven't had a proper discussion about it," Waller said.
"It's just so tempting to stay in Australia when we've got so many good races."
Verry Elleegant is out of dual-winning Danroad (Danehill) mare Opulance, making her a half-sister two other winners.
Further back this is the same pedigree as stakes-winning pair Plutocrat (Rich Enuff) and Starmon (Monolith) - the dam of Group 3 scorer Gogo Grace (New Approach).
Verry Elleegant is one of two Group 1 winners for Grangewilliam Stud-based sire Zed, with the other being Survived and he has sired 14 stakes winners in total.