SATURDAY: October 22, 2022: IZFALLINGDOWN might have been a late starter – but she is making up for lost time!
The six-year-old mare didn’t begin racing until last season, and her victory at the Scone Showcase meeting held at Gosford yesterday was her third from only a dozen starts.
Sensibly ridden by apprentice Anna Roper, whose star continues to rise, Izfallingdown ($7) upset $1.90 favorite Rosie Impact in the Benchmark 58 Handicap (1600m).
The well-named Izfallingdown (by London Bridge) is the last foal of the now deceased Danehill Dancer mare Dezhilla.
It was through a previous and successful association with two of Dezhilla’s sons that Hawkesbury co-trainers Tara and Philippe Vigouroux did not rush her when she joined their stable.
“We didn’t get her until she was a three-year-old, and we broke her in,” Tara Vigouroux said last night.
“Izfallingdown’s older half-brothers Azcannyaz and Cass ‘N’ Black both kept getting better with age, so we took our time with her.”
The husband and wife training partnership won six races with the now retired geldings (both by Canny Lad), who remarkably also ran 34 placings between them.
Izfallingdown won twice in her inaugural season of racing; a 1300m Maiden at Orange in March at $19 and a 1600m Class 1 Plate at Canberra the following month at $61.
She was having her fourth run back this time in, and was ready to run a strong 1600m.
“We would have preferred the meeting to be held at Scone on the bigger track, but as it turned out that didn’t matter,” Tara Vigouroux said.
“Anna (Roper) gave Izfallingdown a beaut ride. When there was no pace on in the early stages, she let her stride around the outside and join the leader.
“It proved to be a winning move as, with her 2kg allowance, our mare had a 4kg advantage over the favorite and was able to hold her off.”
Izfallingdown beat Rosie Impact by a half-length, with second favorite Second Half ($3.70) nearly one and a half lengths away in third placing.
Team Vigouroux has now won three races this season (the others being At Midnight at Moruya on August 14 and Tillman at Bathurst on September 14), and believe Izfallingdown will manage at least 2000m.
There was a sad touch to the mare’s Gosford victory as her breeder Dale Casson passed away a few months ago.
“Dale wasn’t in the best of health when Izfallingdown won her first two races earlier in the year, and got a great thrill out of them,” Tara Vigouroux said.
“We leased the mare from Dale, and he stayed her in when we formed a syndicate to race her.”
Tara Vigouroux’s father, former Hawkesbury Race Club chairman Ken Quigley, is also in the ownership group.
. Royal Randwick trainer John O’Shea’s second stable at Hawkesbury provided the track’s 40th winner of the season today when lightly-raced three-year-old Saveadateforme ($2.40 favorite) took the Maiden Handicap (1400m) at only his second start.
Ridden by Alysha Collett, the Savabeel colt easily disposed of four-year-old mare Savanici ($5.50) and another three-year-old Emrys ($3.20).
A $220,000 NZ purchase at last year’s Karaka Book 1 yearling sale, Saveadateforme is out of the O’Reilly mare Dating, who won five (including two Group 3s) from her 15 starts, and was also placed in a Group 1 in New Zealand.
O’Shea’s Hawkesbury stable also produced a debut winner Mistress at Newcastle last Saturday.
. Fellow Randwick trainer Michael Freedman’s Hawkesbury stable representative Communist ($5.50) ran a great race in the $1m Callander-Presnell (1600m) at Randwick today, but had to be content with second behind Caulfield Guineas winner Golden Mile ($2.30 favorite).