Faint Perfume returns with victory in the G2 Kewney Stakes

Although extreme weather conditions forced the postponement of the feature races at Flemington on Darley Australia Cup day, there was still success for the Darley sires with Lonhro recording a new Stakes winner and Faint Perfume (Shamardal) opening her autumn campaign in victorious fashion with a convincing win in the G2 Kewney Stakes.

The second race of the day saw the John Hawkes-trained Dissolved (Lonhro) record his first Stakes race victory, scoring by one and a quarter lengths in the Listed MSS Security Stakes. Peter Snowden's three-year-old Commands gelding Rarefied resumed from his spring spell to take third place.

Bred by Michael Sissian’s Segenhoe Stud, Dissolved is out of the Grand Lodge mare Yarralumla, a half-sister to the Champion war-horse of a few seasons back in Grand Armee. Purchased for $300,000 by his trainer from the Inglis Easter yearling sale, Dissolved is now likely to head for further Stakes contests.

Lonhro has now sired eight individual Stakes winners of 13 Stakes races (with the latter figure higher than any other stallion this season). He has also sired a further 13 Stakes performers.

In the G2 Kewney Stakes, no fewer than three of the first four home were by Darley stallions and leading the Darley dominance was Shamardal's G1 VRC Oaks-winner Faint Perfume. Resuming from a spell, the Bart Cummings-trained filly settled last in the field before making her run rounding the home-turn. Once she had shouldered her way into the clear, the result was never in doubt.

Getting up to win the race by three-quarters of a length to defeat Response and fellow Shamardal filly No Evidence Needed, Faint Perfume will now return to competition at the highest level with the Australian Oaks next on her agenda. Third-placed No Evidence Needed will head towards the Oaks race series in South Australia in the next month.

Speaking after the race, Bart Cummings said, “I thought she'd run very well and she's lived up to that. We’ll let her get over that and then look to Sydney for the Oaks there.”

Bred by Wynyarra Stud and co-owner Dato Tan Chin Nam, Faint Perfume has now recorded four wins from eight starts and in excess of $1million in Stakes earnings for her connections.

Shamardal has now sired ten individual Stakes performers this season.

Earlier in the day, Domesday two-year-old Backgammon indicated that he is a Stakes horse of the future, working home extremely well over the 1400m of the G2 Sires’ Produce Stakes to finish a narrow 4th.

With the remainder of the race program being postponed at Flemington due to the extreme weather conditions, it is likely that the G1 Darley Australia Cup and the G1 Australian Guineas will be head at Flemington next Saturday.