War Machine (NZ) Reigns Supreme in Stradbroke

Rising star War Machine (NZ) (Harry Angel) brought up the 20th Group One win of the season for a Karaka graduate – and the 14th in Australia – with a powerhouse performance in Saturday’s A$3m Group One The Star Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) at Eagle Farm.

War Machine was bred by members of Ardsley Stud’s Wallace family, and he was offered in Ardsley drafts at Karaka 2022 and the Ready to Run Sale but failed to meet his $100,000 reserves. He has now had 13 starts for six wins, four placings and A$2.48m in stakes.

The exciting four-year-old is the 10th individual Karaka graduate to win at the elite level in Australia this season, joining Aeliana (NZ) (Castelvecchio), Antino (NZ) (Redwood), Atishu (NZ) (Savabeel), Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock), Feroce (NZ) (Super Seth), Gringotts (NZ) (Per Incanto), Linebacker (NZ) (Super Seth), Maison Louis (NZ) (Super Seth) and Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars). Antino, Ceolwulf and Mr Brightside all recorded multiple Group One wins.

The Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained War Machine’s sensational Stradbroke victory honoured the memory of the late Mike Moroney, who trained him for the first 10 starts of his career, along with Michael Wallace, who sourced the gelding’s dam Caserta (Hussonet) on behalf of his family. The Stradbroke came less than a week after the untimely loss of the latter.

“We're very proud, it was an amazing result today,” Ben Hayes said. “The Wallace family bred this horse and is in the ownership group. They've had a really tough time lately and hopefully his win today will make them feel better.

“Also Mike Moroney, we're fortunate to be able to be entrusted with this horse. He's an amazing, exciting horse, and to be able to have a horse like this to train is just amazing. To be able to get a result like this for Will, JD, the whole team, Mike Moroney, his family, the Wallace family – it's really, really exciting.”

War Machine went into the Stradbroke as a hot favourite, having scored a runaway victory in the Group Three BRC Sprint (1350m) at Doomben late last month. Saturday marked a big step up in class from an awkward draw in gate 12, but War Machine rose to the occasion in style.

Jockey Tim Clark took up a handy position in eighth, three-wide but with cover, then presented him on the outside of the leaders at the top of the home straight.

An explosive burst of acceleration carried War Machine into a clear lead with 250 metres remaining, and he kept going strongly to beat the fast-finishing Yellow Brick (The Mission) by three-quarters of a length.

“Obviously I was thrilled to get on him today,” said Clark, who had his first ride on War Machine on Saturday. “He put the writing on the wall a few weeks ago and it was a pleasant surprise on Sunday morning when I got the news.

“He got away okay. He was just laying on the side of the gates a little bit, but he got away okay and it worked out pretty well from that draw.

“Myself and Ben, we spoke before the race. We just wanted to get on a three-wide line with a bit of cover.

“He travelled so well, I probably let him loose a bit early. But this was the grand final, there's no tomorrow, so I wasn't going to die wondering.

“He let rip, really let rip. Maybe just wandered a little bit late. He could feel Yellow Brick coming late and sort of surged again.

“I can't take too much credit for it. What a great job by Ben and his brothers to just have him spot on for today. I was just the lucky one to get the call-up.”

Vendor	Ardsley Stud Limited
Purchaser
Breeding	Harry Angel – Caserta
Sale	Lot 152, Karaka 2022 Book 1, Psd ($100,000)Lot 45, 2022 Ready to Run Sale, Psd (Res $100,000)
Breeder	MDJ Bloodstock Ltd
Owner	Ballymore Stables (Aust) Pty Ltd, R & C Legh Racing Pty Ltd, Mr N J Griffin, Mrs J S Griffin, Mr G B Robinson, Mr B C Hollow, Mr S W Kay, Ms M A Keating, Mr G Lygoyris, Mrs S Lygoyris, Mr A S Byron, Mr A Williams, Mr K McCaul, Mr J B Hart, Mr M J Davies, Mr D W Wallace, Mr J V Wallace