Feroce won the Australian Guineas and handed Sutton his first Group 1 win, while Via Sistina delivered a record-breaking win for star trainer Waller in the Verry Elleegant Stakes. Click to open navigation
‘Crazy … I can’t quite believe it to be honest.’
Billy Egan celebrates as Feroce wins the Australian Guineas at Flemington.
Dominic Sutton’s Feroce and Chris Wallers Via Sistina have won the feature races on a super Saturday at Flemington and Randwick respectively.
Feroce won the Australian Guineas and handed Sutton his first Group 1 win, while Via Sistina delivered a record-breaking win for star trainer Waller in the Verry Elleegant Stakes.
Waller said that the two mares’ paths will now split with Fangirl to run in the Group 1 George Ryder Stakes (1500m) and Via Sistina in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes (2000m) with both run on March 22 en-route to the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).
“I knew it was going to be a battle of tactics, and (jockey James (McDonald) was concerned about the draw (barrier 8), in terms of where we would get to,” Waller said
“The track is racing pretty quick today and it is hard to make up a lot of ground so the last 200m I was proud, simple as that.
“Unfortunately there had to be a winner.”
Meanwhile, a stunned Sutton said he could not believe it.
“Mate, I can’t even think of a word to say right now,” he said.
“Crazy, I have so many people to thank. Yeah, especially my fiancée, Raquel, I couldn’t do it without her.
“My dad was flown over from the UK. Simon, our biggest owner is over as well, he literally flew over this morning.
“We can’t do it without the horse and he is an absolute warrior. We thought we had him right for the day. Everyone probably wrote him off a little bit after his first-up run, but Bill said he is flying, mate, he just hated the soft ground.
“I can’t quite believe it to be honest.”
Sutton said he came to Australia to experience the industry and he was meant to be here for three months.
“Here we are 10 years later. I never had the plan to train,” he said.
“I wanted to experience it and I loved it. Obviously found a girl who made me stay. Yeah, here we are. It’s been a crazy journey. I just couldn’t do it without the people around me. I have a lot of people to thank.”
