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Impending followed up his Golden Rose placing with victory in the Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
The John O’Shea-trained runner who was no match for Astern in both previous runs this campaign came from back in the small field to edge out Divine Prophet over the concluding stages with Good Standing not far away in third.Impending returned a new career peak Timeform figure of 122, four pounds higher than his third placing in the Group 1 Golden Rose (1400m) the start prior.
The result held up the Golden Rose form which saw the top three placings of the Stan Fox run third, fourth and fifth in the Golden Rose, all in the same order.
Divine Prophet who was only a neck away in second also ran to a new career peak rating of 121 with Good Standing running to 118.
The Racing and Sports field strength of 119.8 is considerably higher than the 2015 renewal of 114.8 which saw Press Statement beat Shards and probably highlights how good all three of these colts are going forward.
Impending is the highest rated winner of the race since Paratroopers in 2005 who ran to 124 with no colt running higher than Divine Prophet’s 121 in that time either.
Paratroopers is the highest rated winner in the last 25 years ahead of Lonhro in 2001(123), General Nediym in 1997 (122), Octagonal in 1995 (122) and Marwina in 1994 (122).
Press Statement who took out the 2015 renewal ran to 119 as did Shooting To Win in 2014.
Both these runners went on to win the Caulfield Guineas (1600m) the following start which looks the obvious progression out of the race.
Impending and Divine Prophet have both runs figures that place them right in the mix for the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas with both likely to have no issues with the mile.
Tycoon Tara continued her terrific campaign with victory in the Group 2 Golden Pendant (1400m) to make it three wins from four outings this campaign.
Leading throughout and setting a fairly slow tempo early, Tycoon Tara was able to hold off her rivals over the concluding stages to run out a two length winner over Dixie Blossoms in second with Pearls third.
Tycoon Tara ran to a new career peak Timeform figure of 116, one pound higher than her fourth placing behind Mackintosh in the Group 2 Theo Marks last start.
The now six-year-old mare has shown terrific improvement since joining the Peter and Paul Snowden stable at the beginning of the preparation.
Tycoon Tara returned a figure four pounds higher than 2015 winner Peeping (112) and is the highest rated winner of the race since More Joyous in 2012 who ran to 122+.
More Joyous is the highest rated winner of the race in the last 20 years in what was a Group 3 race up until last years renewal, formerly known as the Research Stakes.
Other higher rated winners of the race in the last 25 years are Hot Danish in 2009 (118) and Classy Dane in 2003 (119).
With retirement and the breeding barn just around the corner for Tycoon Tara, connections could look at a Group 1 race for her next assignment and the 116 figure could certainly make her competitive in a mares race.
Of the beaten brigade Dixie Blossoms in second ran to a new career peak of 107 with Pearls returning a figure of 109, two pounds below her previous best.
There was plenty of interest around the returning First Seal who ran fifth, running to 109, seven pounds below her first up figure when winning the Millie Fox last campaign.
Heavens Above was also below her best in sixth, running to 104, seven pounds below her first up effort in the Toy Show.
Punters were left thinking what could have been when Veladero took out the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes (1800m), getting the better of Honeywine and a luckless Prized Icon getting third on protest over Retaliation.
In what was a slowly run race, the top six all finished within a length which saw plenty of hard luck stories no more than Prized Icon in third.
Veladero who had won both races leading into the Gloaming, returned a new career peak Timeform figure of 106, nine pounds higher than his previous win at Warwick Farm.
Veladero is the lowest rated winner since Big Dream in 1991 (105), considerably below 2015 winner Vanbrugh who ran to 114+.
The Racing and Sports field strength value of 107.5 is slightly below the 2015 renewal of 108.7 although in what was a fairly messy race it’s hard what to make of some of the beaten runners.Honeywine in second ran to a clear new peak of 105, 12 pounds higher than his previous best with the 105 run by Prized Icon well below his best of 116.
Caught behind runners for much of the straight, Prized Icon got out late and hit the line well and would not be putting the line through him going forward.
Swear who also did not receive the best run ran to 104, below his previous best of 107 and should improve on that going forward.