Sacred Falls has led home a Chris Waller-trained domination of the Doncaster Mile placings, winning the race for the second year in a row.
Coming through on the inside for Hong Kong-based jockey Zac Purton, Sacred Falls ($10) got the better of his stablemate Royal Descent ($8.50) in a driving finish to the $3.5 million at Randwick on Saturday.
Lightweight runner Weary ($4.40) took third with Hawkspur running fourth.
The win gave Waller his fourth Doncaster win as Sacred Falls became the first horse since Super Impose in 1991 to win back-to-back Doncasters.
“He’s a very good horse, but it just went pear-shaped for him in the spring,” Waller said.
“We gave him a long spell to make sure he would be right for this race and we sacrificed a lot of races getting here.”
Purton took all the shortcuts to land his first Doncaster.
“Obviously the wet track has helped him here again today, but not many horses win back-to-back Doncasters, so he has done a really good job,” Purton said.
Royal Descent looked set for victory, but her deep run from a wide barrier told as Sacred Falls emerged from the ruck with his well-timed finish.
| Race 8 – 4:30PM THE STAR DONCASTER MILE (1600 METRES) |
|---|
| Of $3,000,000.1st $1,800,000, 2nd $600,000, 3rd $300,000, 4th $150,000, 5th $60,000, 6th $30,000, 7th $30,000, 8th $30,000 GROUP 1 Handicap, Minimum Weight 50kg, Three-Years-Old and Upwards, Weight Raised 1.5kg, Apprentices cannot claim.Track Condition: Heavy 9 Time: 1:39.59 Last 600m: 0:38.27 INTERIM RESULTS |
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Starting Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | SACRED FALLS (NZ) | Chris Waller | Zac Purton | 13 | 56.5kg | $10 | |||
| 2 | 9 | ROYAL DESCENT | Chris Waller | Nash Rawiller | 0.5L | 18 | 54kg | $8.50 | ||
| 3 | 19 | WEARY (FR) | Chris Waller | Tommy Berry | 3L | 12 | 51.5kg | $4.40F | ||
| 4 | 5 | HAWKSPUR | Chris Waller | Jim Cassidy | 5.5L | 8 | 56kg | $10 | ||
| 5 | 20 | NINTH LEGION | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Craig Williams | 5.6L | 11 | 51.5kg | $51 | ||
| 6 | 14 | HANA’S GOAL (JPN) | Kazuhiro Kato | Sachio Shimizu (a) | 6.9L | 15 | 52kg | $51 | ||
| 7 | 17 | MESSENE | Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes | Corey Brown | 8.3L | 17 | 51.5kg | $5 | ||
| 8 | 21 | MALAVIO | Steve Englebrecht | Kerrin McEvoy | 8.5L | 9 | 51.5kg (cd 52kg) | $51 | ||
| 9 | 18 | EL ROCA | Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young | Glen Boss | 9L | 16 | 51.5kg | $8.50 | ||
| 10 | 2 | MY KINGDOM OF FIFE (GB) | Chris Waller | Craig Newitt | 9.7L | 7 | 57kg | $101 | ||
| 11 | 7 | SPEEDINESS | Colin Scott | Damien Oliver | 9.8L | 1 | 55.5kg | $16 | ||
| 12 | 16 | DISSIDENT | Peter G Moody | Brenton Avdulla | 10L | 10 | 51.5kg | $17 | ||
| 13 | 13 | SLOW PACE (USA) | Kris Lees | Joao Moreira | 11.6L | 20 | 52.5kg | $31 | ||
| 14 | 6 | TOYDINI | Guy Walter | Blake Shinn | 11.8L | 3 | 56kg | $21 | ||
| 15 | 12 | FAT AL | Peter G Moody | Tim Clark | 12.4L | 14 | 53kg | $101 | ||
| 16 | 15 | LIDARI (FR) | Peter G Moody | Chad Schofield | 13.4L | 6 | 52kg | $51 | ||
| 17 | 3 | STREAMA | Guy Walter | Hugh Bowman | 14.4L | 19 | 56.5kg | $26 | ||
| 18 | 8 | MOURO (USA) | Tony McEvoy | Luke Nolen | 16.9L | 5 | 55kg | $61 | ||
| 19 | 10 | MONTON | Ron Quinton | Sam Clipperton (a) | 17.1L | 4 | 54kg | $201 | ||
| 20 | 11 | DEAR DEMI | Clarry Conners | James McDonald | 20.5L | 2 | 53.5kg | $26 | ||
| 22 | GYPSY DIAMOND | John O’Shea | Kerrin McEvoy | 0 | ||||||
| 1 | BOBAN | Chris Waller | Glyn Schofield | 0 |
