SYDNEY – Via Sistina, the odds-on favorite to win her seventh Group 1 race since late August in Friday’s $3.08 million Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick Racecourse, is beatable.
It just does not happen often.
Since she was purchased for approximately $3.5 million in Britain in December 2023, Via Sistina has won 7 of 10 starts. In the last nine months, since the start of the current Australian season, Via Sistina has won six Group 1 races ranging in distances from seven furlongs to 1 1/4 miles.
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The brilliant mare may be impossible to beat in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, provided she can withstand a challenge from the British invader Dubai Honour, unbeaten in three starts in Australia in the last two years including the 2023 Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Both Via Sistina and Dubai Honour, 7-year-old Irish-breds, tend to race as stalkers.
Via Sistina’s tactical abilities were displayed recently with wins in the Group 1 Verry Elleegant Stakes at a mile at Randwick on March 1 and the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at nearby Rosehill Gardens Racecourse on March 22. She rallied from midpack to reach the front in the final furlong of both races.
Those results have made Via Sistina the early 4-5 favorite in a field of 14 in the Queen Elizabeth. Trained by Chris Waller, Via Sistina has drawn the inside post, which will require top jockey James McDonald to avoid traffic in a big field.
In fairness, Via Sistina did start from the inside in the Ranvet, but had only five rivals.
The opposition in this field includes Lindermann and Fawkner Park, who were second and third in the Ranvet, and the international rivals Dubai Honour and Rousham Park from Japan.
Dubai Honour, trained by William Haggas, has had a fascinating career, racing in Australia, Europe, and Hong Kong. Dubai Honour’s wins in Australia are the 2023 Ranvet and Queen Elizabeth, and his last start, and 2025 debut, in the Group 1 Tancred Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Rosehill Gardens on April 1.
Dubai Honour did not race in Australia in 2024, a season in which he won the Group 1 Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud in Paris in July.
Rousham Park is a closer, as he showed with a game finish when second in the Breeders’ Cup Turf at Del Mar last November. A winner of 6 of 16 starts, Rousham Park will start for the first time this year in the Queen Elizabeth. He was seventh of 15 in the Grade 1 Arima Kinen at 1 9/16 miles at Nakayama Racecourse in Japan on Dec. 22 in one of Japan’s toughest races for older horses.
As of Thursday, Dubai Honour was 5-1, while Rousham Park was 15-1. Rousham Park’s price holds some appeal for a runner who could easily fly through the stretch to complete an exacta or trifecta.
The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is the leading weight-for-age race in Australia in the first half of the year, and the top race on a 10-race program at Randwick that consists entirely of stakes.
The program begins at 9:45 p.m. Eastern or 6:45 p.m. Pacific. Wagering is available through DRFBets.com.
There are four Group 1 races on the Randwick program, with strong favorites in each race.
Alalcance, a 5-year-old British-bred mare, was 3-2 as of Thursday to win the $330,800 Sydney Cup at two miles against 19 rivals.
Alalcance has won her last three starts, all in stakes since March 8, at distances ranging from 1 1/4 miles to 1 5/8 miles. The Sydney Cup is the two-mile debut for Alalcance who tends to run near the front. Her running style could produce a touch of drama in the final half-mile to see if she can handle the longer trip.
The 4-year-old filly Zardozi, fourth in the famous Melbourne Cup at two miles in November, and Birdman, who closed from eighth to finish second by slightly more than 2 1/2 lengths to Alalcance in the Group 2 Chairmans Stakes at 1 5/8 miles at Randwick last weekend, will be finishing.
Fangirl was scratched from the Queen Elizabeth Stakes in favor of Friday’s Group 1 Queen of the Turf Stakes for fillies and mares. A 6-year-old mare, Fangirl will be about even-money to win the $615,400 Queen of the Turf Stakes against 12 rivals. She was second to Via Sistina in the Verry Elleegant Stakes last month.
In the day’s first Group 1 race, Treasurethe Moment was 4-5 as of Thursday to win her eight consecutive start in the $615,400 Australian Oaks for Southern Hemisphere 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/2 miles.
The New Zealand star Leica Lucy, a winner of 6 of 7 starts including the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks on March 22, is also part of the field of 10.
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