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Trekking's win in Saturday’s $1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm put the seal on a wonderful season of highlights for the Godolphin stable in Australia.
Trekking's win was the Australian operation's 200th for the season and lifted prizemoney won by the stable runners to more than $29 million.
It was also Godolphin's eighth Australian-trained Group One win for the season, seven being prepared by head trainer James Cummings and one coming from the Anthony Freedman stable.
Godolphin also won another three G1 races in Australia this season with horses prepared by its UK-based trainers Saeed bin Suroor and Charlie Appleby including the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups double.
Astute planning by James Cummings has seen the Godolphin runners cut a swathe through the Queensland carnival over the last month.
Cummings decided to target the carnival after Exhilarates won the $2 miliion Magic Millions 2YO Classic at the Gold Coast in January and sent a strong team to Brisbane in early May.
The Godolphin runners have since won six feature stakes races – the Stradbroke (Trekking), Silk Stocking (Demerara), Chief De Beers (Isaurian), Grinders Coffee Stakes (Savatiano), Lightning Handicap (Plague Stone) and Helen Coughlan Stakes (Multaja) plus G1 placings in the Doomben 10,000 (Osborne Bulls) and Kingsford Smith Cup (Trekking).
Trekking is the second Stradbroke win for Godolphin after Impending’s win in 2017 when Darren Beadman was in charge of the stable prior to the appointment of James Cummings. The Stradbroke was run at Doomben in 2017.
Trekking has progressed from Benchmark company to G1 winner with four stakes wins including the G3 Hall Mark Stakes at Randwick in April and the Listed Luskin Star Stakes at Scone in May en route to Brisbane.
The Cummings family has played a big part in Stradbroke day history. Bart Cummings, the late grandfather of James Cummings, won the race four times, while his father Anthony trained Saturday’s G1 JJ Atkins Plate winer Prince Fawaz.
The Darley homebred Trekking is by Street Cry from Outdoor (Redoute’s Choice) and has won eight of his 20 starts with prize-money totalling $1,540,495.
He is the only winner out of the three-time winner Outdoor, a half-sister to the stakes-placed pair Minnesinger (Lonhro) and Entertains (Street Cry).
Trekking’s second dam is the three-time G1 winner Serenade Rose (Stravinsky).
Outdoor is in foal to first season shuttle sire Ribchester.
Trekking is the 22nd G1 winner by the late Street Cry, the feted sire of the champion mare Winx. Street Cry died in 2014 after suffering from a neurological condition.
