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Perth filly Arcadia Queen is the toast of the west after a brilliant victory at Ascot in the Kingston Town Classic, the final Australian Group One race of the year.
The three-year-old, raced by Perth's leading owners Bob and Sandra Peters and trained by Grant and Alana Williams, beat a field of older accomplished horses in the 1800m feature.
Her win justified William Pike's commitment to get down to 50kg after he chose to ride the filly over stablemate Galaxy Star.
Railway Stakes winner Galaxy Star finished third with Material Man splitting the pair.Sent out the $2.25 favourite, Arcadia Queen exploded clear at the 300m under her light weight to win by 4.5 lengths from Material Man with Galaxy Star running home late for third, a long neck away.
She is only the second 3YO filly to win the prestigious Group One race since its inception in 1976.The first was Perfect Reflection in 2015, a filly also trained by the Williams team for Bob and Sandra Peters.
Arcadia Queen also made history as the first filly to win the WA Guineas, WA Champion Fillies Stakes and Kingston Town Stakes in the same season"I was checking over my shoulder because I got there so easily, so early," Pike said.
"I thought I would follow Material Man but I ended up in front of him she jumped so well.
"She is a beautiful horse.
"My first instinct was to ride her but you can't dismiss the other girl and the choice was not by a clear margin."
Peters has won the Kingston Town Classic five times and said Arcadia Queen's win was the best he had seen but stopped short of calling her the best he has owned.
"I thought she was our best filly and she lived up to that," he said.
He will now consider eastern states options for Arcadia Queen who will have a break after winning five of her six starts in her first preparation which began in September.
Prompted by talk of the new $7.5 million Golden Eagle for four-year-olds in Sydney next spring, Peters had one reason to lean to NSW over Victoria.
"You can use Regumate in New South Wales. That makes it easier than going to Victoria," he said.
Controversy surrounds Regumate which controls the breeding cycles of fillies and mares with Racing NSW introducing a rule allowing its ongoing use after minute traces of steroids were found in swabs,
Grant Williams said any decision on where Arcadia Queen raced in the autumn and spring would be left up to Peters.
Arcadia Queen was carrying only 50kg under the wfa conditions with the filly exploding away from her rivals at the 300m, leaving proven G1 performers Material Man and Galaxy Star to fill the minor placings.Runner-up Material Man was placed in last year’s Kingston Town Classic and finished second to Galaxy Star, also a member of the Williams/Peters stable, at his previous start in the G1 Railway Stakes (1600m) on November 24.
The Williams/Peters/Pike triumvirate went within three-quarters of a length of a clean sweep of the Ascot carnival’s three G1 features in the last two weeks, having won the Railway Stakes and Kingston Town Classic with Galaxy Star and Arcadia Queen and just missing out in the Winterbottom Stakes on December 1 when Enticing Star finished second to Voodoo Lad.