\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Mary-Jo Jackson\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) confirmed herself a serious filly at Randwick on Saturday when she ran away with the Tea Rose Stakes (Gr 2, 1400m).\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was the second victory of the Princess Series for the daughter of Newgate Farm\u2019s Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt) having landed the Furious Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) in thrilling style on September 6 \u2013 just her second start after a runner-up finish on debut last December, with a foot abscess ruling her out of the autumn.<\/p>\n
Despite travelling in a less-than-ideal position from barrier eight on Saturday \u2013 with her and jockey Tommy Berry forced to sit three-wide for the majority of the 1400-metre contest \u2013 the Michael Freedman-trained filly showed professionalism beyond her experience to relax and kick on when asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Letting down at the 200 metres, the striking three-year-old swiftly hit the front and stretched clear, making it two Group 2 victories from as many starts this preparation by 1.7 lengths, with a jubilant Berry lifting out of his irons to salute on the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sent off a $3 chance after her last-start heroics, the winner defeated Artistic Venture (Trapeze Artist), who out-ran her $41 odds, with $2.50 favourite and Furious Stakes second Tupakara (Trapeze Artist) crossing the line another 0.4 lengths behind in third.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Freedman admitted to concern over the gate pre-race and was delighted to see his filly prove a class above her ten rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think she\u2019s pretty special,\u201d the trainer said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very impressed with her first-up two weeks ago but overcoming a few difficulties there today with the wide run, through no fault of Tommy\u2019s, we were always worried about that gate.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo let down like she did, from a training perspective, you don\u2019t get too many horses that can do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apocalyptic was cut from $4.50 to a clear-cut $2.20 favourite for the Flight Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m) at Randwick on October 4, and her trainer believes another step up in trip for the Group 1 is likely to suit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll speak to Tommy and see what he thinks but she did relax a little bit better today even though she didn\u2019t have cover, which gives me some encouragement going up to the mile in two weeks\u2019 time should suit her,\u201d Freedman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has always given us the impression the longer trip should suit so hopefully it will play that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berry was not overly concerned when he had to track wide on Apocalyptic but was aware the race may have been a hard watch for Freedman.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have loved a heart monitor on Michael halfway around,\u201d the winning rider quipped.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe both knew before the race it was a very tricky barrier. She\u2019s got such a big stride\u2026I didn\u2019t really mind being wide on her, it was better than being in.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a big wrap on her for a long time and I\u2019ve had wraps on horses before and it doesn\u2019t come to fruition, which today it has.\u201d<\/p>\n
Apocalyptic (3 f Extreme Choice \u2013 Shadow by Medaglia D\u2019Oro) was a $400,000 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale purchase by MyRacehorse, her trainer and Julian Blaxland Bloodstock from the Coolmore Stud draft in 2024.<\/p>\n
Bred by Kate Nivison\u2019s Etak Thoroughbreds, she is the second foal and second winner out of Shadow (Medaglia D\u2019Oro), a granddaughter of dual Group 1 winner Virage De Fortune (Anabaa) from the family of champion Emancipation (Bletchingly).<\/p>\n
Apocalyptic\u2019s brother sold to Chris Waller Racing, Mulcaster Bloodstock and B2B Thoroughbreds for $1.7 million at Inglis Easter Yearling Sale earlier this year. Shadow was covered late last season by Pierro (Lonhro) after missing to Extreme Choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Mary-Jo Jackson Listen Apocalyptic (Extreme Choice) confirmed herself a serious filly at Randwick on Saturday when she…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-149775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}