Group 1 second for brave Babylon

02 Jan 2023

Running the race of her life, tough mare Babylon Berlin was given the perfect ride by Kozzi Asano in today's Group 1 Railway Stakes (1200m) coming within a nose of Group 1 glory.

 

While the barriers have often been her downfall, she had no such trouble today, jumping brilliantly and settling in second behind the leader. The speedy mare took the lead on the home turn, putting a gap on her rivals before being nabbed on the line by triple Gr1 winner Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), with dual Gr1 winner Levante (Proisir) a further 2.2L back in third.

 

Counting two Gr3 wins and a Listed win amongst her six wins, Babylon Berlin has made just two attempts at Gr1 level in her career, finishing third in last year's Gr1 Railway Stakes behind Entriviere and Levante. The talented mare holds a nomination for the Gr1 Telegraph Hcp (1200m) at Trentham in two weeks time.

 

Trained by Ben Foote, Babylon Berlin was foaled at Willow Park for breeder Scott Williams, who retained her to race after losing her dam when Babylon Berlin was three months old. The five year old is by Vinery Stud's wonderful sire All Too Hard out of You Can't Say That (Fusaichi Pegasus), who also produced triple stakes winner Darci Be Good (Darci Brahma).

 

Babylon Berlin has two half sisters that reside at Willow Park, both of whom have yearlings in our Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale draft (see Horses For Sale page).

 

Lot 292 is a filly from the first crop of Gr1 Coolmore Stud Stakes winner Exceedance out of five-time winning mare Reply Churlish (O'Reilly).

 

Lot 385 is a colt by sprint sensation Blue Point (IRE) and is the well-grown first foal of lightly raced winner Shush (Redoute's Choice).

 

A third lot in our Magic Millions draft also received a black type update at Te Rapa, when unbeaten two-year-old Trobriand (Kermadec) won the Gr2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) for Te Akau Racing. The exciting colt is from the same family as lot 629 - a colt by Too Darn Hot (GB) out of Assioma (All Too Hard), a half sister to fellow Te Akau star Xtravagant (NZ).

 

The draft will be available for inspections at the Gold Coast complex from this Friday, 6th of January.