Atishu’s Empire Rose triumph capped a special day for the expat New Zealand combination of trainer Chris Waller and jockey James McDonald, who also combined to win the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes with Switzerland and the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) with the Kiwi-bred Aeliana.
“What a mare she [Atishu] is,” McDonald said. “She just turns up and performs. I’m incredibly proud of her. The team have presented her in immaculate order and she’s done the job.
“Her performance in this race last year – I couldn’t believe that she got beaten. But then, as it’s turned out, Pride Of Jenni became an absolute star.
“She’s just a quality mare. I’m really proud of her.”
Atishu has now had 46 starts for 11 wins, 15 placings and A$5,094,620 in stakes. This was the third Group 1 victory for the 7-year-old, who had previously captured the Queen Of The Turf Stakes (1600m) as well as the Champions Stakes (2000m) on the final day of last year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Flemington has been a particularly happy hunting ground for Atishu, with nine starts at the famous Melbourne track for victories in the Empire Rose, the Champions Stakes, the Group 2 Blamey Stakes (1600m) and the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m).
Atishu has become a mainstay of Waller’s stable in the three years since Go Racing transferred her across the Tasman. She had previously recorded multiple stakes wins in New Zealand as a 3-year-old for Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh.
“She’s a beautiful mare,” Waller said. “She’s been here a long time, and horses like her are so special. When they’ve been with you that long, they’re certainly a big part of the team. They continue to fly the flag and make you proud.
“We thought she was building up well towards this, and knowing how well she goes at Flemington gave us confidence more than anything. She’s a year older, so she just takes that bit longer to find a grand final. We had a little bit of confidence today that the grand final was here this week.”
Waller will strongly consider backing Atishu up for a defence of her title in the Champions Stakes next Saturday, where her opposition will include her Cox Plate-winning stablemate Via Sistina.
“There’s a pretty good chance she’ll be back next week,” Waller said. “She’ll have some good opposition there, but she won’t be worried about them. She’ll be saying, ‘Look out for me’.”
Bred by Waikato Stud, Atishu is by their champion sire Savabeel out of the No Excuse Needed mare Posy, who won two races and is a sister to the former Champion Three-Year-Old and multiple Group 1 winner Daffodil.
Atishu is a sister to the Waikato Stud-raced Mazzolino, who herself won the Group 3 Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) for Marsh.
Go Racing went to $260,000 to secure Atishu as a yearling from Waikato Stud’s 2019 Karaka Book 1 draft.
Atishu was entered for the Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale on the Gold Coast earlier this year, but the Go Racing team elected to withdraw her in favour of another season on the racetrack.
– NZ Racing Desk.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
