Feroce (NZ) and Savaglee (NZ) Fly Karaka Flag in Australian Guineas

The A$1m Group One  Australian Guineas (1600m) became an all-New Zealand affair at Flemington on Saturday as Karaka graduates fought out a thrilling finish won by Feroce (NZ) (Super Seth).

Beaten by a short head when second in the Group One Caulfield Guineas (1600m) in the spring, Feroce would not be denied this time and has now earned A$1.33m from a nine-start, three-win career. He was a $160,000 purchase by McKeever Bloodstock and Sutton Racing from Kilgravin Lodge’s draft at the 2023 Ready to Run Sale.

But Feroce was pushed all the way down the Flemington straight by Savaglee (NZ) (Savabeel). The winner of seven races in his homeland including the Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m), the top-class colt was bought for $400,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2023 and has earned more than $1.2m.

This was the second time in three years that a Karaka graduate has won the Australian Guineas, with Feroce following in the recent footsteps of the 2023 winner Legarto (NZ) (Proisir). Previous winning graduates include Grunt (NZ) (O’Reilly) in 2018, Ferlax (NZ) (Pentire) in 2013 and Shamrocker (NZ) (O’Reilly) in 2011.

Feroce’s narrow defeat in the Caulfield Guineas in October was a tough pill to swallow for his young trainer Dominic Sutton, who has only recently started his career and trained his first winner just last April.

Sutton set his sights on Australian Guineas redemption, with Feroce having only two starts in the five-month period between those two features. He ran third in the Group Three Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) in November, then resumed with another third placing in the Group Three CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) two weeks out from the Australian Guineas.

Saturday was the Pencarrow Stud-bred three-year-old’s day. Aided by a perfect ride from Billy Egan, Feroce settled in fifth place before warming into his work just behind Savaglee as that colt surged forward to take the lead in the straight.

Egan then angled Feroce off Savaglee’s heels and went to work, driving his mount up alongside the Kiwi visitor. They fought a desperate battle through the last 200 metres, where Feroce gradually gained the upper hand and edged ahead to win by three-quarters of a length. There was another length back to the third placegetter, the Group One Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Goldrush Guru (American Pharoah).

“I can't even think of a word to say right now,” Sutton said. “Crazy. I've got so many people to thank, especially my fiancée, Raquel. I couldn't do it without her. Her dad's flown over from the UK. Simon (Chappell), our biggest owner, our biggest supporter, is over as well. He literally flew in this morning.

“And look, we can't do it without the horse, and he's just an absolute warrior. We thought we had him right for the day. I can’t quite believe this, to be honest.

“It took a long time to get over the Caulfield Guineas, I'm not going to lie. A lot of people were congratulating us, but I still felt pretty bitter about it all, thinking that we could have won on that day. And we all know how hard it is to win these races and to have a horse good enough and present him in the right order on the day.

“So you sometimes think, 'Am I going to be waiting for a long time now until the next one comes along?' But this horse has just been super. He's just improved, improved, improved. He was probably the third ever horse we've bought out of the sales, and I've got to thank Johnny McKeever. He's been instrumental in helping us select these horses, so I've got a lot to thank him for as well.

“I was just hoping he'd really knuckle down and go past that leader. He's had a tendency of just getting his head up a little bit, but once Billy changed the stick through and gave him a couple more reminders, he really let down and flew.”

Vendor	Kilgravin Lodge
Purchaser	McKeever Bloodstock Ltd/Sutton Racing (Victoria)
Breeding	Super Seth – Corinthia
Sale	Lot 379, 2023 Ready to Run Sale, $160,000
Bred by	Pencarrow Thoroughbreds Ltd