2025 News
Queen Elizabeth Stakes: Rousham Park 6th, Geoglyph last amid 13 in Royal Randwick feature
Rousham Park
Geoglyph
Two hopefuls from Japan took on the $A5 million Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick on Saturday, April 12, but were unable to land a spot in the money. The 6-year-old Rousham Park, with two graded wins and second-place finishes in both last year’s Grade 1 Osaka Hai and the Breeders’ Cup Turf, managed to score a sixth-place finish in the Randwick feature event under Christophe Lemaire. The 2022 Satsuki Sho (Japanese 2000 Guineas) champion Geoglyph, with Damian Lane up, crossed the line last amid the field of 13. Winless in his 15 starts since the Satsuki Sho, but with fifth-place finishes in both last year’s Osaka Hai and the Breeders’ Cup Mile, Geoglyph had the attention under way of James McDonald aboard the eventual winner. “I thought he was going to kick for a gap and he didn’t go for it and I ended up having to back off him,” said McDonald, who got the gap he wanted eventually and landed the win. Lemaire had gone from Dubai to Down Under and missed the first of the classics back in Japan in order to pilot the Harbinger-sired Rousham Park for the eighth time. “It’s a bit disappointing,” the Frenchman said. “He was just behind Dubai Honour and felt good during the race. The conditions were good, but he couldn’t accelerate in the straight.“ Trainer Hiroyasu Tanaka also expressed his disappointment at the result but praised the horse saying, “given the difficult trip to Australia, including the quarantine, I think he really gave it his best. “The horse was very calm today and he seemed to be feeling good until the backstretch. He started to struggle just before the final turn.” Tanaka said he would look into the cause of the slowdown. Damian Lane had also ridden Geoglyph in his previous race, the Doncaster Mile at the same venue on April 5. There, he had missed the break and finished 18th of 20 runners. This time, Lane said, “He came out of the gate much better than he had then. I was able to keep a good rhythm under way but he had nothing left for the last 600 meters.” Trainer Tetsuya Kimura said, “Geoglyph always runs his heart out, so I’m going to rethink just what all I am doing for him.” Race favorite Via Sistina revenged last year’s loss to Pride Of Jenni by winning this year under James McDonald. The super 7-year-old mare, who was a bit slow away from the inside gate, encountered traffic problems under way and missed an early chance to break clear. But, she finally found her opening and stepped into the lead with 150 meters to go, crossing the line in first with nearly 2 lengths between her and the runnerup, the gelding Dubai Honour (Tom Marquand in the saddle). It was Via Sistina’s ninth G1 victory, her seventh (from nine starts) this season alone, the latter a feat that matched that of the legendary Winx. Tom Kitten, also a gelding, crossed the line 3/4 length behind Dubai Honour in third. The winning time of the Irish-bred, Chris Waller-trained Via Sistina was a new race record of 2 minutes 0.41 seconds over the 2,000 meters. # # # This year’s bid in the Australian Queen Elizabeth Stakes was Japan’s fifth, participation by Japan-based horses having spanned a decade from the first hopefuls Tosen Stardom and To The World in 2015. A total of seven horses from Japan have been entered over five runnings of the race. The best results were a second place scored by Kluger in 2019 and a third-place finish the following year by Danon Premium. Please visit the following website for more information.
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