Hauraki G1 win leads home Godolphin stakes treble

A repeat of the five stakes wins Godolphin carried off on the same day a year earlier was always going to be difficult to repeat, but head Australian trainer John O’Shea and his team came close enough on a day to remember.

Led by the breathtaking victory of the ever-reliable Hauraki in the G1 Epsom Handicap, O’Shea-trained runners won three stakes and filled placings in three others at Randwick on Saturday, October 1.

As well as Hauraki, It’s Somewhat won the G3 Craven Stakes and the two-year-old filly Jorda took the Listed Gimcrack Stakes on debut, giving Godolphin its third successive win in the race. All three winners were handled by James McDonald.

The Randwick treble was complemented by four more winners in the royal blue silks in non-graded races around Australia on the same afternoon.

While the winners naturally received the greatest acclamation, the placed runners at Randwick also deserved credit.

In a performance almost as stunning as that of Hauraki, the outstanding colt Astern finished a close second in the G2 Roman Consul Stakes, losing no admirers with a brilliant finishing burst that got him within a head of the winner Russian Revolution.

He will continue his Spring campaign in Melbourne, possibly in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington later in October.

Although he was beaten, Astern’s performance was one of his best.

“He was awesome, felt brilliant, a little bit fresh early but got into a nice enough rhythm after that,” said jockey James McDonald.

After settling at the rear of the seven-runner field, Astern produced a sensation final 600m in n 33.38 seconds, leaving no doubt he is on target for his main spring missions.

In the G1 Metropolitan it was Allergic (John O’Shea/Michael Dee) who carried the Godolphin colours with credit, finishing third behind Sir John Hawkwood and in the G3 Dulcify Quality, Nemrud finished second.

For Hauraki, the Epsom win was just reward for a career that now includes five wins and nine takes placing, four of them at G1 level.

And for most of the 1600m of the Epsom, it seemed a placing was the best he could have hoped for.

From the start Hauraki dropped out to last and was conceding the leader Fabrizio more than 20 lengths lead after 800m. With 500m to run, Hauraki still had the entire field ahead of him and his task seemed hopeless.

But McDonald never lost faith, positioning Hauraki wide on the track in the home straight to make a bid for victory that still seemed futile with 20m to rum and remained uncertain even after he hit the line..

“We didn’t even have a chance to cheer,” said his trainer John O’Shea for whom this was the second G1 win for the season.

“He came so fast … I still wasn’t sure he’d got there.”

As much as McDonald’s persistence was vital to the victory, the champion rider refused to accept any credit.

“We’ve got the best staff in the business at Godolphin,” McDonald said.

“I just point the horses in the right direction and they fly.”

It’s Somewhat also scored a well-deserved victory, his third in Australia and his best.

“He has been a very honest campaigner over a number of seasons so he deserved a good win like that,” O’Shea said.

It’s Somewhat is now headed to Melbourne, although his program is yet to be decided.

As well as the three winners at Randwick, O’Shea trained three more at Newcastle – Jemadar, Fragonard and Bezel.

And at Caulfield in Melbourne the VRC Derby placegetter of two years ago Nozomi (Lee and Anthony Freedman/Beau Mertens) returned to form with victory in the non-graded Argyle Maintenance Handicap.