by Delamere Usher
Aqua D'Amore scored a major upset with a 1 1/4-length victory in the Melbourne Racing Club's $548,964 ($702,000 Australian) Power Pays Futurity Stakes (Aus-G1), a 1,600- meter (7.95-furlong) turf race for three-year-olds and older at Caulfield on Saturday and the first leg of the Asian Mile Challenge.
Money poured in for multiple Group 1 winner El Segundo, ridden by Damien Oliver, with only Aqua D'Amore, ridden by Stephen Baster, and New Zealand-bred mare Seachange given a slim chance of shutting out the horse previously considered the best in Australia.
Baster, who has developed a successful partnership with the five-year-old Danehill mare, sent Aqua D'Amore straight to the lead, with only Seachange willing to stay with her in the first leg of the 2007 Asian mile challenge.
Niconero and Red Dazzler swapped positions near the pace, while El Segundo was in the second half of the field of eight.
Aqua D'Amore was still stalked by Seachange as they swept around the home turn into the stretch. Red Dazzler and Lad Of The Manor attempted a challenge but failed while Oliver had El Segundo wound up and charging down the outside, but far too late.
Aqua D'Amore prevailed on a track rated good in 1:35.71.
Seachange held on for second, 1/14 length in front of El Segundo, followed by Red Dazzler and Lad Of The Manor.
Baster said he worried briefly when he caught sight of El Segundo.
“She's just so tough,” Baster said. “She wouldn't give up. …I’m so pleased for her, and grateful to [trainer] Gai [Waterhouse] for sticking to me.”
The Asian Mile Challenge will continue with the $5-million Dubai Duty Free (UAE-G1) on March 31 in the United Arab Emirates, followed by the $1.03-million Champions Mile in Hong Kong on April 29 and the $1.78-million Yasuda Kinen in Japan on June 3.
Bred by Caradale Pty Ltd., New South Wales, Aqua D'Amore is out of Romantic River, by Irish River (Fr). Raced by the Coolmore Syndicate, Aqua D’Amore won the Canon Bernsborough Villiers Stakes (Aus-G2), Summer Cup (Aus-G3), and Eclipse Stakes (Aus-G3) in 2005. The Futurity Stakes victory was her first Group 1 win in 32 career starts.
Across Australia, racing clubs marked National Jockey Celebration Day with one minute of silence in remembrance of the 306 Australian jockeys who have died in pursuit of their career. The day also pays tribute to countless others who have sustained serious racing-related injuries. Most major clubs also named a race in honor of the Celebration Day, which also is a major fund raiser for the National Jockey Trust.
Delamere Usher is an Australia-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent