Wednesday, 20 June 2007:
Brilliant filly Miss Andretti has continued Australia's domination of the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot with a record-breaking win in the Group Two event on Tuesday.
Miss Andretti, the 3-1 favourite, smashed the Ascot 1000m record with her 1-3/4 length victory over Irish sprinter Dandy Man with another Australian runner Magnus, in third place.
Yet another Aussie, Takeover Target, who won the race last year, finished fourth while the
Gai Waterhouse-trained Bentley Biscuit finished last of the 20 runners.
For winning trainer Lee Freedman the victory rated alongside his greatest wins at home.
"It's up there with the Melbourne Cups," Freedman said.
"For an Australian trainer there is nothing like winning our biggest race, but this is another dimension.
"This is harder in a lot of ways to bring a horse this far and win."
Miss Andretti's win is the third in five years for Australian horses in the King's Stand with the Newcastle-trained sprinter Choisir having scored a breakthrough win in 2003.
Jockey Craig Newitt had difficulty finding the words to describe his emotions after landing the most significant victory of his career.
"I don't know what to think," Newitt said.
"My head's spinning, it's almost too much."
Damien Oliver, who rode Magnus for trainer Peter Moody, said his horse had run up to its best form.
"But she is simply too good for him," Oliver said.
"She's beaten him a couple of times before, that's all there is too it."
Last year's winner Takeover Target ran another typically honest race for fourth, battling on well after sharing the lead from the start.
"He's that little bit older now and I think he'll be better over some more ground," said jockey Jay Ford.
Takeover Target is a confirmed runner in Saturday's Group One Golden Jubilee Stakes (1200m), while Freedman will make a decision on backing up Miss Andretti on Friday.
It seems unlikely that Bentley Biscuit will run in the Golden Jubilee after a disappointing effort that jockey Nash Rawiller put down to the firmness of the track.
Miss Andretti ran the testing Ascot 1000m in 57.44sec, two seconds better than the previous best time, although the current track has only been in place for two years.
