Class was the deciding factor in Thursday’s VRC Oaks, where Sydney filly Proxima Dea preserved her unblemished record with a decisive victory in the $1 million Group 1 event at Flemington.
The David Payne-trained filly registered her sixth career win, carrying rising star jockey Zac Lloyd to his first Group 1 success in Melbourne over the 2500-metre distance.
This Oaks win came just 12 days after Proxima Dea had defeated the colts in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m). Her veteran trainer suggested she could be the horse he has spent his 54-year training career awaiting.
“I want to win the Melbourne Cup, so maybe I’ll have to hang in there,” Payne stated. “She’s such a good mover and she doesn’t spend an ounce of energy. She’d bred to stay and from day one I said the Oaks and I stuck to it. Maybe I should have gone for the Derby, I don’t know, but she’ll go for a holiday now and she deserves it. This is her first prep and she’s won six in a row and two Group Ones.”
Proxima Dea, a daughter of Tarzino and Invisible Coin, thus a sister to Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess, achieved her Oaks victory 117 days after making a successful debut in a 1400-metre 2YO Handicap at Randwick on July 11. This was followed by a Class 1 victory over 1600m at Gosford, then an 1800m Midway success at Rosehill, before her initial Stakes grade test, which resulted in a win in the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes (1800m) on October 10.
In none of those prior events did she endure a tougher run than what she faced in her Victorian debut.
Lloyd expertly navigated her from the second-widest barrier in the field of 16, but was kept three-wide for a considerable portion of the journey by rivals who were well aware of the $2.10 favourite’s presence.
Despite the challenging run, Proxima Dea took the lead early in the long Flemington straight and opened up a lead of over a length, which she extended through the final furlong.
At the finish line, she had a 1-3/4 length margin over the strongly finishing Shameful Impulse ($41), who narrowly beat Saturday’s Wakeful Stakes winner and $3.50 second favourite De Armas for second place.
Lloyd, who teamed with Victorian trainers Mick Pride and Michael Kent Jr to win this year’s Golden Slipper with Guest House, was thrilled to join forces with fellow South African Payne to secure his breakthrough win in Melbourne.
“To get a Group 1 in Melbourne (is great), hopefully I can keep on coming back for these carnivals and take a bit of money,” the 23-year-old, now with eight Group 1s to his name, commented. “We said all along, as long as David was confident, I had nothing to worry about it. She’s bred to do it but she might be the best one on the page. That was some performance.”
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