Racing: A$1.5 million golden hour for New Zealand at The Valley

Antrim Coast (closest to camera) beats Quintessa in a tight finish in the A$500,000 Alister Clark Stakes. Photo / Bruno Cannatelli

The Queen of New Zealand racing who loves The Valley and a 3-year-old who didn’t combined to win A$1.5 million worth of races in a golden Kiwi hour in Melbourne on Saturday.

Imperatriz overcame having to sit three wide for the entire A$1m William Reid Stakes, giving her 10 Group 1 victories and a defence of the title that last year started her domination of Victoria’s biggest sprints.

But while the victory on her favourite track was largely expected, the win of Antrim Coast in the A$500,000 Alister Clark Stakes was anything but, as he downed Imperatriz’s stablemate Quintessa for a New Zealand-trained quinella.

The runner-up to Orchestral in the New Zealand Derby three weeks ago, Antrim Coast provided trainer Stephen Marsh with his second-richest win in Australia, behind Sofia Rosa’s victory in the 2016 ATC Oaks.

Although Imperatriz loves The Valley, where she remains unbeaten, Marsh says Antrim Coast won on heart, even though he didn’t appear to relish a tighter track than he is used to.

“We never thought The Valley was the ideal track for him but it was a good race and worth a crack at with a fit horse,” said Marsh. “But that is a huge win and a massive result for his owners because A$500,000 races are hard to get and he beat Quintessa, who was a good fourth in the Australian Guineas.”

Antrim Coast paid $41 even after his Derby second and Marsh says he has always been an underrated horse.

“He is by Roc de Cambes, he is a gelding, and even though he has gone some big races, he hadn’t won a major one before. But he has now and that continues what has been the best ever summer of performances for the stable.”

Marsh will resist the temptation to chase the ATC Derby in Sydney in two weeks and instead keep Antrim Coast in Victoria to prepare for the South Australian Derby.

“It’s not until May 18, so we’ll have to plot a path to that, but back on a bigger track there, he could be very hard to beat, so I think it’s the right race.”

While he will miss the Sydney carnival, that’s where Imperatriz will head for the climax to her season in the A$3m TJ Smith Stakes at Randwick on April 6.

She was brutal winning on Saturday, covering more ground than her rivals after jockey Opie Bosson took off earlier than he would have liked.

She is too good for her Victorian rivals and the TJ Smith now looms as the race to confirm her title as the best sprinter in Australasia.

It will also act as a potential bargaining chip for future negotiations with The Everest slot holders, with Imperatriz’s connections able to strike a better deal to compete in the October glamour race if she wins the TJ Smith.

● The Golden Slipper had a New Zealand flavour when Lady Of Camelot won at Rosehill on Saturday, the filly bred and raced by Sir Owen Glenn.

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.