Rocket Spade confirmed his spot at the head of the male classic crop with a tough victory in the Gr.2 AJC Avondale Guineas (2100m), hitting the line strongly to defeat Jason Belltree and On Display.

In doing so, Rocket Spade followed the path of Dragon Leap, who like Rocket Spade had also won the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas (1600m) on New Year’s Day.

Both are trained by Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott and raced by Hermitage Thoroughbreds, a racing and breeding operation owned by Hong Kong businessman Eugene Chuang.

A retired banker and financier, Chuang and his wife Karen devote much of their time to

philanthropic pursuits, particularly in the area of childhood development and

education.

“They deserve every success,” O’Sullivan said. “They have put a bit of money into racing, in Australia as well as New Zealand, so it’s great to see them getting the rewards.”

Hermitage Thoroughbreds is probably best-known in Australia for racing the multiple Group One-winning colt The Autumn Sun, in addition to Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2400m) winner Egg Tart and Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) winner September Run – all trained by Chris Waller.

But O’Sullivan and Scott have also enjoyed good success with the Hermitage colours (dark green with red chevrons), boasting Group One victories with Willie Cazals and Summer Passage, in addition to multiple elite level placings with Group Three winner Spring Heat.

Unlike last season’s pre-post Derby favourite Dragon Leap, Rocket Spade raced between his Auckland and Avondale Guineas triumphs, finishing second in an open handicap against older horses at Te Rapa in early February, which O’Sullivan said reflected the different natures of the two horses.

“They’re two totally different sorts of horses. We’re thinking Dragon Leap is probably a miler now, whereas Rocket Spade is more dour,” O’Sullivan said.

“He’s still got to run 2400m. You don’t know until you actually try them, but we think he will. Certainly his style of racing suggests he would get further.”

Rocket Spade is currently second favourite for this year’s Derby with TAB bookmakers behind the filly Amarelinha, who has yet to be nominated for the race.

Dragon Leap went on to finish fourth in the Derby, failing to stay the 2400m after hitting the lead 400m out in a taxing contest.

He hasn’t raced since finishing eighth of 11 in the Gr.2 Tramway Stakes (1400m) at Randwick last September, suffering a minor injury which stopped his spring campaign.

“He’s probably done about 10 weeks of rehab with us so he’s probably not far away from picking up in his work. He has another scan this week, and if we have the all-clear, we can speed him up. He should be racing again this season.”

Rocket Spade wasn’t the only winner for Hermitage Thoroughbreds at Ellerslie, with Cha Siu Bao winning a rating 74 event over 1600m.

Cha Siu Bao wasn’t far off the best three-year-olds four seasons ago, finishing fourth in the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), Gr.2 Great Northern Guineas (1600m), and the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2000m). He’s found it hard to bridge the gap to the top horses since then, and Saturday’s victory was his fifth from 34 starts.

“He’s got above average talent, but he mixes his form and he’s got to want it. We were fortunate to have Opie (Bosson, jockey) on board on Saturday.”

Ellerslie wasn’t the only place O’Sullivan had success last Saturday, as he is one of the owners of Defibrillate, winner of the Listed Neds Mornington Cup Prelude (2000m) at Caulfield.

O’Sullivan is a close friend of fellow Matamata trainer Graham Richardson, the main owner of Defibrillate. Richardson prepared Defibrillate to win two of his three New Zealand starts before sending him to Victorian trainer Patrick Payne.

“I’m just a small shareholder but it’s certainly a lot of fun being involved,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s really exciting for Richie. He’s won nine from 13 now, and he’s running in good company.”

– Joshua Smith, Racing & Sports

Chris Waller’s chances of winning his second Newmarket Handicap improved considerably on Sunday morning with two market leaders, including last year’s winner, likely to bypass the Group 1 sprint.

Godolphin’s Australian head trainer James Cummings said Bivouac is “not likely” to defend his title in next month’s $1.25m G1 Seppelt Wines Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington on March 6 while Troy Corstens, co-trainer of Swats That, indicated his three-year-old filly would next race in the $500,000 William Reid Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley on March 19.

Swats That ($17) finished third while Bivouac ($2.15 favourite) ran fifth behind the Waller-trained Lightning Stakes quinella of Nature Strip ($4.40) and September Run ($10).

“He was just a pass,” Cummings said of Bivouac’s Lightning Stakes performance on RSN927’s Correct Weight on Sunday morning. “He was big and blew out, that’s alright, he’ll improve greatly with the run.

“An excellent race, they were running the whole way but when Bivouac is nearly settling as close as Nature Strip in the run, you know it’s going to take its toll late.

“The horse has pulled up well and we’ll press on with a weight-for-age campaign.”

When specifically asked whether Bivouac would contest the Newmarket Handicap, Cummings replied: “I would say it does not look likely.”

Swerving Victoria’s premier handicap sprint in preference for a weight-for-age option is also likely for Swats That.

“I’ve had a chat with the guys last night and this morning and we’re a huge chance of bypassing the Newmarket as well and we may head straight to the William Reid,” Corstens said.

Swats That is a dual Group 3 winner that has finished behind September Run in three meetings, all down the Flemington straight. Swats That was runner-up to September Run in the Listed Cap D’Antibes (1100m) and G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) last spring before finishing three-quarters of a length behind September Run in the Lightning.

“We were rapt with the run, we didn’t know where to line her up and to see her do that yesterday was fantastic and exactly what we wanted to see,” Corstens said.

“The plan was to really get some cover so we were hoping that Fabergino would come across and then either sit in behind Pippie or Fabergino. We came across to do that and all of a sudden Bivouac got the spot behind Pippie and Fabergino goes to the outside so that plan got left out the window.

“She just got left exposed the whole way up the straight, he really had to go for her strongly at the 450-metre mark and I just would have liked to have seen her covered up a little bit longer.

“If you look at September Run she got really good cover and then exploded late. I think if we got that sort of cover we probably could have finished off the way she did as well. It was the best run of her career.”

The likely absence of Bivouac and Swats That from the Newmarket ensured September Run firmed from $3.50 to $2.50 favourite with Sportsbet on Sunday morning.

September Run, a three-year-old Exceed and Excel filly, is followed in betting by reigning Australian Horse of the Year Nature Strip ($5) with Swats That ($7) and Bivouac ($9) the only other runners at single-figure odds.

Waller won the Newmarket in 2015 with Brazen Beau, who just like September Run won the Coolmore Stud Stakes and resumed in the Lightning by finishing second to the reigning Australian Horse of the Year, Lankan Rupee, before claiming the Newmarket second up.

-Carl Di Iorio, Racing.com

Nature Strip, ridden by Jamie Kah, wins Lightning Stakes (Image: Racing Photos)

At her first ride on the horse, Jamie Kah urged Nature Strip to produce a memorable first-up performance when he produced a near perfect 1000-metre straight performance in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes at Flemington.

It was Kah’s fourth Group 1 win and registered yet another Melbourne treble for the city’s leading rider as Nature Strip ran clear inside the final 300 metres and then held off a startling finishing from the Coolmore Stud Stakes winner of last spring September Run to score narrowly.

Kah only won the ride when James McDonald opted to stay in Sydney to ride Verry Elleegant but she handled the sometimes wayward super sprinter brilliantly.

“Just to get on a horse of that calibre,” she said of the thrill of the ride.

“I’ve been very lucky to get Group 1’s so far but to get on a horse like him and for Chris Waller, it’s just…. I couldn’t imagine it and to get the job done is amazing.

“He’s just unbelievable. I wish mum and dad could be here today. It would have been awesome. They had a table by the winning post and they would have been there cheering me on.”

In a race where Bivouac was sent out a $2.15 elect but never really threatened before finishing fifth, Nature Strip ($4.40) held a half length advantage on the line over September Run ($10) with a length and a quarter to fellow filly Swats That in third.

Kah said she did nothing special on the horse that can sometimes spend too much too early.

“I just let him do whatever he wanted to do then,” she explained.

“It was beautiful earlier. Pippie set a nice hot tempo and he actually relaxed and dropped the bit. They’re going to do that when they run that quick but it just set up beautifully for him.

“He wanted to drift in and roll in a bit late but I didn’t really care. I just let him do what he wanted to do.

“He was in a good mood. He was in a good mood when I trialled him. I think he’s just getting better with age. They’ve found the key to him first-up, given him that extra trial and he has to be rock hard fit to run because he runs at such a high cruising speed.

“The team has done an amazing job and I’m the lucky one to be on him.”

Trainer Chris Waller’s Melbourne representative Jo Taylor said: “He showed today exactly why he was Australian Horse of the Year. We didn’t quite see that in the spring but he’s come back here today and stamped his mark.”

As for September Run, she said: “She was just fantastic.”

Glen Boss said he was forgiving of Bivouac: “He was good. A bit fresh and raced a bit closer than I thought and he’s probably a little bit too close to his top in the middle stages so he blew out.

“That’s his first run so he’ll improve. He’s a big colt now, a big heavy bugger so he’s going to take a lot out of that.”

-Andrew Eddy, Racing.com

 Trainer : CHRIS WALLER. Picture: Racing and Sports

Chris Waller won’t be drawn into labelling his current crop of two-year-olds as his best yet but there is no doubting the premier trainer has some exciting prospects.

He has already won the Breeders’ Plate and Magic Millions Classic with Shaquero, while She’s All Class took out the Wyong Magic Millions feature.

Last weekend he unveiled Home Affairs, who just failed to score on debut at Rosehill but shapes as another promising youngster.

While most trainers measure the success of their two-year-old season by wins, Waller takes a different view.

He says the true test will come down to the group’s longevity.

“It’s hard to quantify. Winx was a pretty good two-year-old, she won two races. The Autumn Sun was unbeaten at two,” Waller said.

“A good two-year-old season is where you win a few good races but you train them at three as well.”

Sydney’s dominant trainer for the past decade, Waller has played only minor roles in the major juvenile races to date.

He takes a patient approach, regardless of a horse’s age, and says that has not changed.

If his babies are winning better races, it is on raw ability.

“It’s simply that. We haven’t changed anything, they’re not wound up. They are just going through their well-educated systems and they will keep improving,” Waller said.

His philosophy is reflected in the fact he will saddle up 13 horses at Randwick on Saturday but only one of them, Conexy, is a two-year-old.

He does not have a runner in the $2 million Inglis Millennium, nor in either of the Blue Diamond Preludes in Melbourne.

Conexy will contest the Listed Lonhro Plate (1000m) after being scratched from Rosehill last week due to a weight penalty.

“He had a three kilo penalty. I didn’t think it was fair running him,” Waller said.

“It was done on prize money which I haven’t seen before.

“He will run (on Saturday)and it is a more suitable race.”

Conexy has started twice, finishing second on debut at Doomben before breaking his maiden at the same venue in November.

Hugh Bowman has the ride from barrier one.

– Mandy Cottell, Yahoo Sport

Swats That (Image: Racing Photos)

Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Jye McNeil will ride Swats That for the first time at Flemington on Friday in a course-proper trial that will throw plenty of light upon Saturday week’s Group 1 Black Caviar Lightning at the same venue.

The Coolmore Stud Stakes runner-up will run into her conqueror that day, September Run, as well as entrenched star Nature Strip in a mouth-watering three-horse 800-metre jumpout.

McNeil has been booked to ride Swats That in Saturday week’s 1000-metre test following the careless riding suspension incurred by John Allen at Donald on Monday.

Swats That’s co-trainer Troy Corstens said on Wednesday that the three-horse make-up of the trial is not ideal but that he is confident his filly will be able to get what she needs from it just eight days from the Lightning.

“You would have preferred six or eight but there’s not much you can do about it and we’ll just concentrate and control what we can do,” Corstens said.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a massive field in the Lightning, but it’ll be a bloody good one.”

Corstens said he felt for Allen, who partnered the filly to wins in the G3 Champagne Stakes at The Valley and G3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes at Caulfield before she beat all but September Run home in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.

“It’s a bit of a spanner in the works with John Allen getting suspended but we’ve got Jye McNeil to have a feel of her on Friday morning and he rides her in the Lightning,” he said.

“That’s going to be interesting to see how he gets on with her but he’s a fantastic rider and she’s a pretty easy horse to get along with.”

– Andrew Eddy, Racing.com