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Daughter of Zed secures her eighth Group 1 with thrilling Ranvet win
Having finished second to Addeybb (Pivotal) in the Ranvet Stakes (registered as Rawson Stakes) (Gr 1, 2000m) 12 months ago, Verry Elleegant (5 m Zed - Opulence by Danroad) extracted her revenge on the William Haggas-trained gelding when she came out on top of a thrilling battle up the Rosehill straight to chalk up her eighth Group 1 on Saturday.
It was dubbed a two-horse race and it turned out to be the case, with Tom Marquand placing Addeybb just behind the leader Angel Of Truth (Animal Kingdom) in the early part of the contest, while James McDonald was never far away on the Chris Waller-trained Verry Elleegant, tracking Addeybb’s every move.
As the field came round the turn, Marquand began to ask the son of Pivotal (Polar Falcon) for his effort, but all the while McDonald sat motionless on the daughter of Zed (Zabeel), drawing menacingly alongside the gelding inside the final 100 metres. Addeybb battled bravely, but could not shake off Verry Elleegant, and she eventually gained the lead with 50 metres left to run to come away with a length victory.
Long-time leader Angel Of Truth stayed on well to finish another three-quarters of a length away in third, while Cox Plate (Gr 1, 2040m) winner Sir Dragonet (Camelot) produced his best performance this preparation to finish another half a length further away in fourth.
Last seen winning the Chipping Norton Stakes (Gr 1, 1600m), the mare also landed the Caulfield Cup (Gr 1, 2400m) earlier in the season and Waller said she had improved since her last meeting with Addeybb.
"She's a great horse and it's always hard to gauge when you're running against horses from the other side of the world who has been flying the flag up there so proudly and beating some good horses,” he said. “Well done to Mr Haggas for sending him down because it's not an easy feat.
"She's won a Caulfield Cup with international form and she's brought it to Rosehill too."
Waller admitted he believed Verry Elleegant would win last year’s race, but thought they got the tactics better this time round.
"Exactly the same as I was thinking last year,” said Waller. “And I thought we would win the race easily. And he fought back at the 300 metres when we headed him last year and it was the same thing unfolding.
“James didn't pull the trigger as early this year, but when he went she quickened and he started coming back. So I was thinking 'oh it's on again' but gee she was tough the last 100 metres as she was in the Caulfield Cup, as she's been in so many of her races. She's a world class horse.”
Waller said that the mare would be unlikely to back up in next week’s HE Tancred (Gr 1, 2400m) and would be saved for her rematch with Addeybb in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Randwick on April 17.
"I always said that it would be unlikely,” he said. “We'd go three weeks into the Queen Elizabeth and have a fair crack at it. She's run second last year but she ran over 2400 metres winning the Tancred. I doubt she'll be there but we'll let the dust settle of course and there's next year as well to think about."
Verry Elleegant is out of dual-winning Danroad (Danehill) mare Opulance, making her a half-sister two other winners.
Further back this is the same pedigree as stakes-winning pair Plutocrat (Rich Enuff) and Starmon (Monolith) - the dam of Group 3 scorer Gogo Grace (New Approach).
Verry Elleegant is one of two Group 1 winners for Grangewilliam Stud-based sire Zed, with the other being Survived and he has sired 14 stakes winners in total.
