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Son of Nicconi lands sixth Group 1 with Randwick romp
The Chris Waller-trained Nature Strip (6 g Nicconi - Strikeline by Desert Sun) regained the mantle as the best sprinter in Australia and possibly the world when he landed his second consecutive TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) at Randwick on Saturday.
Last seen running second to Eduardo (Host) in the Challenge Stakes (Gr 2, 1000m) on March 6 and he settled into a nice rhythm tracking the Joe Pride-trained gelding.
As the field began to fill the pinch round the home turn, Nature Strip was travelling well, before letting down with his usual enthusiasm and broke away under James Mcdonald, beating Masked Crusader (Toronado) by two lengths. Eduardo finished another three-quarters of a length away in third.
The victory was the sixth win at elite level for the son of Nicconi (Bianconi) and he has now won 16 of his 30 starts, earning $8,026,685 in prize-money.
Nature Strip finished fourth in The Everest (1200m) in 2019, while he ran seventh in the $15 million race this season and Waller is now eyeing a third crack in the lucrative race with the gelding.
"I think he'll be aimed at The Everest, he'll be at The Everest for sure,'' Chris Waller said.
"So it'll all be revolved around that. It's actually quite deep into the spring so there's the chance to take him to Queensland if we need to.
"We'll enjoy today's win, he's one of the best sprinters in the world. Have him right on the right days and he'll win the biggest sprint races in the world.
"As you've seen in the past it's not easy to get it right in the spring, maybe it was worse last spring, but I think there have been things against him.
"Now that he's learned to settle he might go to a new level."
McDonald, whose Group 1 wins on Anamoe (Street Boss) and Nature Strip on Saturday took his tally to 51, is having nothing to talk about Nature Strip being fragile and described him as the 'world's best sprinter' after the race.
"We can only worry about one horse and that's why throughout the week, all this talk of 'we're going to upset him' - it is just a load of rubbish," McDonald said.
"Just ride your horse and we'll worry about ours. They're not going to upset him anymore. He is pretty push button. I can safely say WBS (World's Best Sprinter) for him."
Bred by Golden Grove Stud, the son of Widden Stud resident Nicconi (Bianconi) is out of Group 3-winning Desert Sun (Green Desert) mare Strikeline, making him a half-brother to Listed winner The Barrister (Star Witness).
Strikeline herself is a daughter of Listed winner Strike High (Pre Emptive Strike), who is also the dam of Group 3 scorer Bashful Girl (Perugino).
The gelding is one of 20 stakes winners and the only Group 1 winner for Nicconi.
