Plate winner Adelaide off the mark as sire
Funstar has created an immediate impression at the races, winning with authority at Canterbury.
Cox Plate hero Adelaide has sired his first winner with Funstar making an impressive debut at Canterbury.
A member of champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien’s all-conquering Ballydoyle stable, Adelaide won 2014 Cox Plate for jockey Ryan Moore.
Adelaide stayed in Australia after the Cox Plate but was retired after racing once for Chris Waller when unplaced in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick.
Waller trains Funstar, a two-year-old half-sister to his stable’s 2018 Queensland Oaks winner Youngstar.
Adelaide has had limited runners from his first few crops of foals but Waller likes the chances of Funstar making the grade.
Allowed to settle well off the speed in the All Too Hard @ Vinery Handicap (1250m), Funstar produced a late run to beat stablemate Tawaret by 3-1/4 lengths.
She started a well-supported $1.90 favourite on the strength of promising barrier trial showings.
“She’s a very smart filly and has shown that in her trials,” Waller said.
“Being by Adelaide suggests distance won’t be a problem and that’s why we rode her back today.”
Funstar was ridden by Robbie Dolan, an in-demand apprentice who will be chasing a Group One win in Brisbane on Saturday.
Dolan has secured the mount on the John O’Shea-trained Pretty In Pink in the $1.5 million race.
He will ride the three-year-old at 49.5kg after she forced her way into the field in winning the Moreton Cup at Doomben last week.
Dolan will head to Eagle Farm with what appears to be an unassailable lead in the Sydney apprentices’ title for 2018-19.
Funstar brought up Dolan’s 38th Sydney metropolitan victory for the season, putting him 15 wins ahead of his nearest rival.
The Irish apprentice landed a Canterbury double with Blazing Miss continuing a profitable run for trainer Mark Newnham.
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