Alizee, Sepoy and Cummings celebrate G1 breakthrough

Godolphin star Alizee has established herself as the dominant filly of her age in Australia with a stunning last-to-first victory in Saturday’s G1 Flight Stakes at Randwick.

After being in a near-impossible position with 400m to run, the daughter of Darley stallion Sepoy showed an electric turn of foot to gather in the field and race clear in the final 100m to beat Champagne Cuddles by two and a quarter lengths with the same margin to Cellargirl in third place.

The win that placed Alizee in elite company also created a list of “firsts”.

As well as being her initial G1 win, it was the first for her sire Sepoy and the first for her trainer James Cummings since he joined Godolphin three months ago.

Alizee had already provided Sepoy with his first Australian stakes win when she took out the G2 Tea Rose Stakes on 16 September.

But she showed she had improved vastly on that effort.

As well as joining the ranks of Australia’s elite racehorses, Alizee represents some of the best of the country’s bloodstock.

Her immediate family includes her half-brother Astern (Medaglia D’Oro), a G1 winner and now a Darley stallion, as well as her dam Essaouira and grandam Alizes – both outstanding racehorses – and third dam, the G1 winner La Baraka.

It is a family that also includes La Baraka’s dam, the champion race mare and producer, Triscay a winner of 15 races, including five G1s.

Sepoy, the champion Australian sprinter of his era, has produced six Stakes winners, the best of them after Alizee being the British-bred German G2 winner Unforgetable Filly.

Cummings paid tribute to the training team that produced Alizee in peak order for her toughest assignment.

“The whole team has come together to shape this horse. Not a hair on her body has been overlooked,” Cummings said.

“That’s what brings together the team at Godolphin and that’s why we can produce these results on the day.”

The trainer also announced the Flight Stakes had been Alize’s seasonal target, but he hasn’t ruled out adding another.

“It’s tempting to continue, but it will depend on how she comes through this run. If she shows any sign of having had enough, she will go straight out,” he said.

Jockey Glyn Schofield whose plan it was to drop out of the early jostling for positions, said he’d been amazed at what Alizee’s performance.

“She was always comfortable, but from the wide gate we had to give away a start. I asked her to extend when we go to the middle of the track and she grew wings,” he said.

“It was amazing.”