Dubai: No sooner has the dust settled on another rewarding Dubai World Cup meeting for Team Godolphin, the Dubai-owned stable was making waves on the flat in Australia.
Alizee, a well-bred daughter of Sepoy, stormed to victory in the Group 1 Queen of the Turf Stakes at Randwick on Saturday, to announce herself as Australia’s best three-year-old.
The tow-length victory over some of Australia’s top older fillies was both emphatic as it was ominous, given the fact that the best is yet to come from the Darley home bred who is trained by James Cummings.
After racing at the back of a big field with 400m to run, Alizee sprouted wings to fly to a most eye-catching victory, the fifth of her career and second in Group 1 company.
Cummings, who was notching his fourth Group 1 for Godolphin, had no doubt that his filly was special and said: “She is just about the best three-year-old in the country.
“She returned with a blistering win first up over six furlongs on a good track and was just waiting to get back to Randwick on a track that suits her. The team just had her in the perfect condition today.”
Alizee was reunited with regular rider Glyn Schofield who had missed her last outing in the Group 1 Vinery Stud Stakes through suspension.
“She’s a special girl,” said South Africa-born Schofield. “In the Spring she was really dominant against her own age, now she’s beaten older mares as well.
“James had this race in mind for a long time and all credit to him and the Godolphin team, they’ve presented her in great order today.”
The Godolphin website described Alizee as a horse who ‘has a pedigree containing abundant speed, but with the additional influence of the champion mare Triscay, the winner of 15 races, five them at G1, among those the AJC and Queensland Oaks’
Her half-brother Astern is a Group 1 winner who is now a Darley stallion and Cummings revealed that a new member of the family, Tassort, a yearling colt by Brazen Beau, was already showing the family traits.
“He is one of the best colts in the stable,” he said.
“Oh, what a family. It’s exciting to train horses as good as these and it is an absolute privilege to be saddling up horses for His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.”
Alizee become the first Group 1 winner for her sire Sepoy when she won the Flight Stakes last spring, Her five wins include the Tea Rose Stakes and the Light Fingers Stakes, both at G2 with her latest victory taking her racetrack earnings beyond A$1 million.
