Doubts about Lady Shenandoah’s peak form have been firmly put to rest as the Chris Waller-trained mare clinched her second Group 1 prize in as many weeks.

Following her resurgence in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield a fortnight ago, Lady Shenandoah added another elite victory to her name by winning the Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday.

This latest triumph marks Lady Shenandoah’s fifth Group 1 win, contributing to her overall record of seven victories from nineteen starts.

Sent off as the $1.85 favourite under the reins of James Mcdonald, Lady Shenandoah scored by a margin of 1-½ lengths over Concord Connie ($6.50), with Idle Flyer ($18) finishing a further 1-¾ lengths back in third.

Lady Shenandoah gifted Chris Waller his second Group 1 success on Victoria Derby Day, following his earlier win in the feature race with Stormy Marco, a partnership also involving McDonald.

Charlie Duckworth, speaking for the Waller stable, confirmed that the team never lost confidence in Lady Shenandoah, despite a period without wins prior to her Toorak Handicap victory.

“You could have easily written her off prior to last start,” Duckworth commented. “She had been running well but just wasn’t winning. She was running in the hardest of hard races, from Everest’s to running against Autumn Glow and it’s not easy territory that she was in.”

“It shows how competitive these Group 1 races are and prior to today she had won four Group 1’s and $5 million and two weeks and a day ago, you would have said, is she really having a crack if you were outside the camp.”

“These races are so special to owners, to punters, to us. I know we all bang on about the money, and the money is great with these big prize money races, but you win a Derby, they are different.”

James Mcdonald described the ride on Lady Shenandoah as exceptionally comfortable.

“The only worrying part was that she jumped out so well and she wanted to get on with the job,” McDonald said. “I had to give her just ‘a, hey, come back quickly’ instead of running through the bridle, but it was the only worrying part of the whole race.”

“It’s hard with Autumn Glow around the same sort of trip and Autumn Glow’s got her measure, but she’s just so honest, always races to a high level. You know what you’re going to get with her is a solid performance. You’d love to own her and I love riding her.”

The race was marred by an incident on the home turn when Pondalowie fell, causing Harry Coffey to be dislodged.

Pondalowie recovered and was able to canter off, while Coffey was attended to by medical personnel.

Following an assessment, Coffey was transported to the Royal Melbourne Hospital, with a suspected fractured collarbone. Coffey had been scheduled to ride Shockletz in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday.

Betting markets for the Empire Rose Stakes were highly competitive, and punters can explore similar racing betting markets with online bookmakers.