Quintessa (NZ) Makes Superb Return in Cockram Stakes

Already a Group One winner in New Zealand, Karaka graduate Quintessa (NZ) (Shamus Award) added an Australian Group Three to her CV with a dominant first-up performance in Saturday’s A$200,000 Tobin Brothers Cockram Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield.

The high-class mare was a $170,000 purchase by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis from the Book 1 draft of Wentwood Grange at Karaka 2022. Quintessa has now had 11 starts for five wins, three placings and A$729,779.

Quintessa proved her quality on home soil as a three-year-old last season, winning the Group One Levin Classic (1600m) and Group Three Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) and placing in the Group Two Auckland Guineas (1400m). She also finished fourth against a star-studded field of older horses in the Group One BCD Group Sprint (1400m).

Trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson relocated Quintessa to Te Akau’s Cranbourne base in the autumn, picking up fourth placings in the Group One Australian Guineas (1600m) and Group One Australian Oaks (2400m) along with a second in the Group Two Alister Clark Stakes (2040m).

Saturday’s first-up run in the Cockram Stakes was over a significantly shorter distance than those races, and Quintessa had to carry a testing 60-kilogram topweight against a talented field of sprinting mares. But Quintessa’s class shone through and she produced one of the standout performances on a stellar card of racing at Caulfield.

Quintessa raced in midfield before finding clear air at the home turn and quickening sharply in the straight. She swept to the lead and went on to win by three-quarters of a length.

“I was a little bit rough on the corner, just so I could make sure I had the room to improve into the race and then she did the rest,” rider Daniel Stackhouse said. “She gave me a great feeling. Obviously she’s a class horse, a Group One winner in New Zealand at a mile. The team’s changed things up a little bit, keeping her to the shorter trips a bit this time around, so they’ve done a great job.”

Quintessa became the second Cockram Stakes winner in recent years that was bought by Ellis at Karaka and trained by Te Akau. The exceptional Probabeel (NZ) (Savabeel) launched her five-year-old season with a first-up victory in the 2021 edition of the same race.

“Quintessa is bred to stay, but this preparation, if we train her a bit fresh and keep her at shorter trips, she might be that sprinter-miler,” assistant trainer Ben Gleeson said.

“Mark was very confident she’d run a big race, and we’ve been happy since she’s come over. We were bullish and thought she might have been overlooked in this race.

“There’s a lovely programme for these fillies and mares from here. She’ll go to the Let’s Elope (Group Two, 1400m) in two weeks, and ideally we’re getting her to Flemington and running in the Empire Rose (Group One, 1600m) during Cup Week. That’s probably the perfect race for her. If we keep training her like that mile type of mare, I think that’s her perfect race.”