Latest news with #WesternEmpire
West Australian
3 days ago
- Sport
- West Australian
No substitute for class: Western Empire overcomes setback to score last-gasp success in Hyperion Stakes
Western Empire showed a setback means nothing to a superstar, storming to success in the Group 3 $200,000 PKF Perth Hyperion Stakes (1600m) at Pinjarra. Ruled out of last week's Belmont Sprint with a hoof abscess, punters tread warily around the $3.70 TABtouch second favourite with Magnificent Andy ($2.70f) a resounding elect. While Magnificent Andy found a glorious trail in third place tagging leaders Comfort Me ($31) and Searchin' Roc's ($81), Western Empire was stranded three wide in eighth place and seven lengths from the front. Cornering for home, Brad Parnham eased Magnificent Andy to the outside and by the 300m, the chestnut moved effortlessly to the lead. Forced wide, Western Empire began to build momentum but still had lots on his plate approaching the 200m. Over the final furlong, William Pike sent the Group 1 winner into overdrive, and they gradually began to chip back the margin on Stephen Miller's charge. Only in the final strides did Western Empire pick up Magnificent Andy, with the courageous runner-up registering his third consecutive second-place finish. Co-trainer Grant Williams lauded the constitution of his seven-year-old to overcome the ailment ruling him out of the May 28 clash. 'We love this horse. He's put in two bad runs over 1200m and all the experts, they write him off after that and we get nearly $4 because he's the lay of the day,' he said. 'At the end of the day, there's only a couple of Group 1 winners in this field which means they're quality, and that's what he is. 'We gallop them up hills, he's done plenty of work. He had that foot and to be honest with you, it still wasn't that great yesterday, but he was sound on it. 'He was three deep no cover and hit the line good. What else can I say? I can't talk highly enough of this horse.' The son of Iffraaj has regathered his mojo since rejoining Grant and Alana Williams' stable last year with affection proving the winning ingredient. 'He just needed to be loved again. He wasn't loved for a few years and they're not machines; some of them need to be treated differently,' Williams said. 'He does, he just needs to be treated differently. But what he's got is a huge motor and he's got Alana, that's a start. 'We'll never go to 1200m again. We learned trying to be heroes, reading papers, we learned our lesson there. 'We thought it was easy winning at 1200m. It's not. He's not a 1200m horse. 'He's a 1400m to maybe 2000m. We might even have a little dip at the Strickland. We might have to put some earmuffs or something on him.' It is hoped the Strickland Stakes (2000m) will be run in two weeks' time at Belmont. Western Empire's strength over the late stages of the contest favour a return to 2000m, with William Pike suggesting his run never threatened to wilt. 'He was very brave out there today. I got the short straw early; I thought I was in, and I wasn't,' Pike said. 'It wasn't the end of the world. I was in such a good rhythm; I was okay with that. 'The part I thought was my undoing was when we got carted pretty wide on straightening. 'I thought that was one mountain too high to climb but he just didn't fade on his run all the way to the line. He had every excuse to peak but he just didn't. 'All I tried to do was not ask too much too early hoping that he was still there for me late, and he was.'
West Australian
27-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
Williams stable celebrate whopping $1.1 million Alsephina sale ahead of Western Empire's Belmont Sprint tilt
Grant and Alana Williams have a chance to cap an already remarkable week with Western Empire in Pinjarra's transferred Group 3 $200,000 Belmont Sprint (1400m). On Tuesday, the Williams' bonny mare Alsephina sold for $1.1 million to Katsumi Yoshida of Japan at the Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale, ending her whirlwind tenure for the husband-wife training duo. Her sale price almost matched her deeds on the track, retiring with stakes of over $1.1 million after running in March's Group 1 Coolmore Classic at Rosehill. ' Ï thought she could make $1 million. The reserve was a lot lower, but I said to them, 'put a realistic, conservative reserve on her and get her on the market' and the market took care of the rest,' her consigner Julian Blaxland said. 'She's a beautiful mare, great physical and she rated really well with all the ratings guys. She was a proper mare, she might have only been a Group 2 winner, but she was certainly Group 1 calibre.' Despite the excitement, Grant Williams remains all business at the stable's Karnup property to ready Western Empire for the Belmont Sprint. After the latter half of Belmont's Saturday fixture was postponed due to track issues, Williams had to take evasive action to ensure the gelding's preparation was spot on. 'On Sundays, every horse in our place has the day off,' Williams told TABradio. 'They have a light day on the Friday and just go on the water walker, so we couldn't afford to give them an easy day Saturday as well. 'We galloped a few of those horses that weren't able to race on Saturday, on Sunday. 'We took him to the old hill on Sunday just for a change and he worked really good. '(Alana) is happy with him, so that's good enough for me.' A $4.20 TABtouch second elect trailing favourite West Star ($3), Western Empire is awkwardly drawn in gate 14 but will be suited to the rise to 1400m. 'We'll still be three deep with cover at some stage,' Williams said. 'Belmont does suit the horse; it's a big open track. It's not ideal (to be at Pinjarra), but at least we're going around. 'The only way we could be at 1200m again (like last start) would be because we needed a run or something like that. 'That won't happen again and we'll change our course next time, and go back to the longer races.' The son of Iffraaj is the defending champion of the Belmont Sprint having beaten Searchin' Roc's by a nose last year. He went on to run in the Hyperion and Strickland Stakes (1600m and 2000m) subsequent to that run, with Williams indicating that may again be the case. This Saturday's Belmont meeting has also been shifted to Pinjarra with further extensive testing commissioned to external consultants Ground Science and Living Turf, who will analyse both the surface of the track and soil and sand profiles beneath.
New Paper
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New Paper
Miller plays his Joker for $4.2m
Former power lineman Bernie Miller knows all about working off the ground, but could be scaling heights he probably would not want to come down from should Jokers Grin win Perth's richest race on April 26, The Quokka (1,200m). The 70-year-old has been an off-and-on hobby trainer for four decades, relying on his day job at an electrical company to pay the bills. Fatter cheques did, however, come his way with, amazingly, five "black type" winners among his haul of 67 winners all-up. It is no coincidence those highlights occurred after he turned to training full-time in 2007, albeit still on a boutique scale. The stable star had all along been Cup Night, who won the 2021 Group 3 Northam Stakes and two Listed races in 2019 and 2020. Such is the romance of racing that Cup Night's full brother has now become Miller's "horse of a lifetime" - and is now in the hunt for the thicker end of a A$5 million (S$4.2 million) bounty. Fourth on debut at Belmont, the son of Maschino out of Walk In Beauty then struck a purple patch of five wins in a row. After he found one better in his last 2024 race, he would have been unbeaten in two Ascot starts in his 2025 campaign, if not for a successful protest from his joint winner The Boss Lady in the Group 3 Roma Cup (1,100m) on April 12. Miller and his dream horse will now be thrust against not only leading home teams like Grant & Alana Williams (Western Empire) and Simon Miller (Generosity and West Star), but also big guns from Sydney, including three-time Quokka bidder Overpass, and a dual Kiwi Group 1 winner, Crocetti. Regardless of state or country, everybody loves to root for the underdog, a mantle which Miller seems to relish. "I'm a small trainer and, for a small trainer to be involved in a five million-dollar race in your home state, it's something very very special," said Miller to TV. "To win The Quokka will be bloody tough. But can he win it? Why can't he? "I think Jokers Grin is going to be better than Cup Night. He's got a beautiful long stride on him, he's got a tank on him. I think he's got all the attributes of a true athlete. "I kept a lid on him for quite a while. We didn't know how good he was, but Paddy knows that because he's steering him." "Paddy" is Jokers Grin's exclusive partner and also Miller's go-to jockey, Patrick Carbery. From Perth, he often drives 50km down south to work Jokers Grin at Miller's yard in Hopeland. Like Miller, the lightweight veteran jockey is undaunted by the task ahead, even after drawing the widest in 13. The close to 1,800-race winner nearly beat Overpass at the inaugural The Quokka by steering then Perth darling Amelia's Jewel from the outermost alley in 14. "It's not the preferred barrier, but that's the way it is, and we'll work it out," said Carbery to Racing WA. "You don't have control over what barriers you get; they're the cards you're dealt and I'm not deflated at all. "Whatever happens, I'll work it out and luck always plays a part in bigger races. I just know the horse is going good and that's the main part of it. "He's going really well, going exceptional, Bernie's happy with him, I'm happy with him. "His work on Saturday was good and he's not in the race just for fun, put it that way." Surely there are five million reasons, but Carbery himself seems to be riding only for one cause. "To win The Quokka for Bernie would be outstanding. No-one deserves it more than him," he said. Win, lose or draw, it will still spark up the former lineman's life for some time to come. "Jokers Grin is by far the best horse I've ever had and I believe I'll ever have," said Miller. "He means a lot to me and brings out the tingles and the feelings within. It's once in a lifetime to have a horse like him." manyan@
New Paper
21-04-2025
- Sport
- New Paper
Overpass eyeing third Quokka
PERTH One of racing's phenomena can add another chapter on April 26 as Overpass sets sights on a third win in as many editions of Western Australia's richest race, The Quokka. Four starts at Ascot have delivered two wins in the A$5 million (S$4.17 million) slot race feature over 1,200m and a pair of victories in the Group 1 Winterbottom Stakes (1,200m) for a perfectly rich record at the track. Sydney trainer Bjorn Baker has taken a slightly different approach this time, veering from starting in The Quokka first-up like he has over the past two years. This time round, the Vancouver six-year-old went in second-up after being collared on the line by Briasa in the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes (1,200m) at Randwick on April 5. "I'm looking forward to getting back over there," said Baker, who made his way to Perth on April 21. "It has become my second home at the back end of autumn and summer. "Overpass travelled over really well and we've followed a similar routine over the last couple of years. "I don't think he overdid it in the TJ and he looks to have come through it pretty well. "If anything, he looks better and staying at Simon Miller's stable, everything is replicated to a degree." Perth has agreed with the gelding over the past couple of years. The New Zealand-born Baker, who has called Sydney home since 2011, identifies the dimensions of the Ascot circuit as something that has really suited the horse. "The great thing about him is that he has a high cruising speed, so he is able to jump and travel, and absorb pressure which he has done very well," said Baker, who is of Kiwi-Swede origin and is about to be naturalised Australian. "Even though he'd won two Quokkas and Winterbottoms, I thought his last Winterbottom win was amazing. "He had to absorb pressure the whole way and I thought we were in a lot of trouble at the 600 (metre mark). I thought, arguably, that was his best ever win." The 10-time winner and stakes earner in excess of A$10 million has been a solid main fancy throughout betting for The Quokka, a race named after a marsupial indigenous to Western Australia. "He definitely likes it over there and he has been a touch underrated even by myself and the team," said Baker. "I think if anything, often he looks really, really well come Winterbottom time, but last year I probably wasn't as happy as I have been. This time he looks better." Overpass is at 13-10 in all-in markets with the two other Sydney raiders, the Matthew Smith-trained Headwall and Matthew Dale-trained Front Page at 5-1 and 7-1 respectively. "You're always wary of who is in the field. Headwall is there and Front Page is a good horse who is up on speed, and then the locals, so we're not taking it for granted," he added. "But I think he is going well and he has been a dream horse." There will indeed be no shortage of local hopefuls who will try and stop Overpass from whisking the trophy away again. Leading the charge are 2024 Group 3 Gold Rush (1,400m) winner Western Empire, The Boss Lady and Jokers Grin, respective winner and runner-up of the Group 3 Roma Cup (1,100m) on April 12. There is also West Star, better remembered by Singapore racing fans as the smart winner of the Singapore Pools Trophy 2025 Handicap (1,200m) on April 5. SKY RACING WORLD
