Lightly raced Victorian galloper War Machine sealed a spot in next month’s G1 Stradbroke Handicap with a brilliant victory in the G3 BRC Sprint over 1,350m at Doomben on Saturday, 24 May.
Beautifully ride by Blake Shinn in third place until the home turn, War Machine peeled off the leaders’ backs at the top of the straight before sprinting away to beat Far Too Easy by 2.6 lengths, with Pier another three-quarters of a length away in third place.
War Machine, out of the Australian mare Caserta, was bred by MDJ Bloodstock Ltd. Now trained at Flemington by Ben, Will and J.D. Hayes, the four-year-old son of Darley shuttle stallion Harry Angel won the Listed Bendigo Guineas last year and has now recorded five wins, with four placings, from just 12 starts for prize-money earnings of A$680,010.
War Machine looms an ideal Stradbroke type and his victory added another feature-race win for the progeny of Harry Angel.
The young stallion currently sits comfortably inside the top 10 on the sires’ prize-money list in Australia, with a winning percentage of runners to winners of 50 this season.
In the past month, Tiger Bay won the Listed Ellen Chaloner Stakes over 1,207m at Newmarket and Watchme Win scored in the G3 John Hawkes Stakes over 1,100m at Morphettville.
Harry Angel has already sired 204 winners of 468 races worldwide, including 20 Stakes-race winners of 32 Black Type races.
He will stand at Kelvinside in NSW this season for a service fee of $66,000, including GST.
War Machine is a winning machine taking out the BRC Sprint, see you in the Stradbroke!@lindsayparkrace @blake_shinn pic.twitter.com/aNmdzoGkkA
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) May 24, 2025
Hear from JD Hayes following War Machine's win in the BRC Sprint@lindsayparkrace pic.twitter.com/eWL30u6Cwh
— 7HorseRacing 🐎 (@7horseracing) May 24, 2025
