Parisal catches Gold fever with another Stakes win at Hawkesbury

Impressive Godolphin mare Parisal continued to climb up the class ranks with her third Stakes victory on Saturday, 4 May courtesy of a determined win in the Listed XXXX Gold Rush (1,100m) at the Hawkesbury metropolitan meeting.

Having her first start since late December, the four-year-old daughter of Darley stallion Astern raced just behind the leaders to the home turn before challenging at the top of the straight.

Under strong riding from stable apprentice Zac Lloyd, Parisal took the lead at the 200m pole and then held off Eagle Nest to win by a half-length with Spacewalk 1.7 lengths away in third place.

The James Cummings-trained Parisal clocked a slick 1minute 2.32 seconds for the 1,100m journey to notch her fifth win overall, with five placings, from 13 starts for prize money and bonuses totalling $703,175.

Cummings, who was in Brisbane to witness Golden Mile run in the Group 2 Victory Stakes (1,200m) and stablemate Razors contest the Group 2 Queensland Guineas (1,600m), was delighted to watch on TV as Parisal resumed a winner.

“An outstanding return from her to build on an already outstanding first-up record,” Cummings said.

“And good for Zac to put a Stakes winner into the back of the net.”

“At the moment we are picking off the neat races with her and, if we remain patient with horses like that, it’s not impossible they could turn into the Zapateos of the world.”

“We’ll bring her through gradually, she’s a chance to head up to Brisbane, but Scone is on in a couple of weeks so she’s a chance to run in the Ortensia (Stakes, Listed) there.”

“But we’ll see how she pulls up, we could freshen her up for a race in Brisbane where she’ll also be well suited.”

A dual Group 3 winner before Saturday, Parisal has now won four from four over the distance and has three wins and a second from four first-ups attempts.

Out of the Australian mare Circular and a half-sister to G1 Newmarket Handicap winner Cylinder, Parisal provided the first leg of a Godolphin winning double at Hawkesbury completed by Contemporary (Nash Rawiller) in the final event.

Also fresh from a spell, but with two April barrier trials under his girth, the four-year-old by Exceed And Excel won the Clarendon Tavern Benchmark 78 Handicap over 1,100m with a storming finish down the outside of a deteriorating track.

Contemporary beat Fire Lane by 1.4 lengths with Smashing Eagle a long-neck away in third.

“A very capable son of Exceed And Excel, he was rewarded by being sent to the paddock a winner and he’s resumed a winner,” Cummings said.

“It would be a pleasure to see him go on with it, he’s clawing his way through the grades.”

Rawiller, who finished with a winning double on the day, said Contemporary was “a lovely horse”.

“I had a feel of him a few weeks ago at Canterbury and you could tell he’d come back well,” the jockey said.

“We had a few plans before the race but I didn’t take one of them.”

“The horse got into a beautiful rhythm and my confidence grew as we went along.” 

Victory took Contemporary’s record to four wins and nine placings from 18 starts, amassing prize money of $381,750.

At Caulfield in Melbourne, smart Godolphin two-year-old Snack Bar (Dan Stackhouse) led all the way to win the two-year-old handicap at his first attempt over 1,400m.

The Frosted colt, who beat Signor Bill by a length with Bring Forth just under a half-length away in third spot, has now won twice and been placed on two occasions from just four starts for total earnings of $178,675.

“He ran the fastest sectionals of the day on debut without winning,” Cummings said.

“He’s capitalised on that and has won two out of four now.”

“Whether we go to Adelaide or not, we’re yet to decide.”

“We’ll see how he comes through it, but he’s got something to offer that horse.”

“It’s about doing what we think is best for Snack Bar, he might even be a cheeky spring horse.”

At Eagle Farm, Razors (Robbie Dolan) put up a terrific performance after a wide run and then settling outside the lead before finishing a close second behind Kintyre in the Queensland Guineas.

The three-year-old could still be a contender in feature three-year-old races in Brisbane but Golden Mile, who will stand at stud for Darley this year, may have run his last race.

With James Orman in the saddle, the 2022 Caulfield Guineas winner finished a gallant third behind Antino and Wee Nessy in the Victory Stakes.

“We were disappointed he didn’t win the race because we felt Golden Mile was flying,” Cummings said.

“But you couldn’t help but think the run was very good and he’s yet again acquitted himself well at weight-for-age level.”

“What we do with him now is up in the air, we’ll discuss it.”

“He may well just be paraded before the breeders and we might send him straight to stud.”

“But the horse is really flying … as we head towards the Stradbroke.”

“We are going to tread carefully with him and only run him if we (team) are all on the same page.”