WS Atkins

Jun 3, 2023

We’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. Dismiss Save articles for later Got it Advertisement Premier trainer Chris Waller was told six months ago by his staff that he had the best two-year-old crop of his career and he is starting to be a believer. The premier trainer won the Golden Slipper with Shinzo, and the Sires Produce Stakes and Champagne Stakes with Militarize, and he might add the JJ Atkins to that next week. Congregation sweeps to victory at Rosehill on Saturday. Credit: Getty Congregation is set to join Chrysaor and Tannhauser in the Brisbane juvenile group 1 after making it two from two at Rosehill on Saturday. “When they told me that [it was the best group of two-year-olds] I didn’t believe them,” Waller said. “It’s looking like they were right.” Congregation is another one from the Coolmore Stud colts syndicate. They paid $2.25 million for the brother to Golden Slipper winner Estijabb, but he is a different type and looks made for the 1600m of the JJ Atkins. As he did in his first start, Congregation ($5.50) got off the bit coming to the turn when the pressure came into the race but still had a big finish and kicked with a final lunge to beat stablemate and favourite Tutta La Vita ($1.75). “The plan was to go to Brisbane with him next week,” Waller said. “The staff have been telling me that the best one is still in Sydney, and it is this guy. “They are good judges.” Kerrin McEvoy kept something up his sleeve on Congregation when he found the front, and, when Tutta La Vita burst through on the fence after being held up until the 200m, he answered with the determination of a winner. Advertisement “I think the filly [Tutta La Vita] will win a really good race, a real Flight Stakes type of horse,” Waller said. “And Congregation, he’s just a lovely colt that keeps on improving. He’s just a baby really in comparison to where he’ll end up.” Waller has won the race for the past four years, and group winners Osipenko and Madame Pommery came through the race in 2022. McEvoy believes Congregation could follow in their footsteps and is keen to stick with him in the JJ Atkins. “He’s still learning the caper,” McEvoy said. “He’s exciting and the best is still ahead of him. He’s going to be much better once the penny fully drops.” “I’ll be there for this bloke next week.” It started a great day for McEvoy, who rode five winners for only the second time in his career. He followed Congregation with Winter Cup winner Al Aabir ($2.80 fav), Grebeni ($4.40 fav), Robusto ($6.50) and Winning Verse ($7.50). McEvoy rode five winners on Concorde Stakes day in September 2017, when one of the winners was a promising sprinter named Redzel, which six weeks later won the first Everest. “You’ve got to enjoy those days,” McEvoy said. “Everything was going right and I had the cattle underneath me.” Amokura charges away with Queensland Oaks Newcastle trainer Kris Lees went from Oaks dreaming six weeks ago to Queensland Oaks winner with Amokura at Eagle Farm on Saturday. The Kermadec filly won a Newcastle maiden on April 23 when she got to the staying trip of 1850m and then added a Sunshine Coast win to get into the group 1 Oaks (2200m). “They can come from nowhere. She’s always showed us something. It’s her first race preparation, so we were always guarded with how far we could go with her, but she put the writing on the wall with her win at Newcastle by a big margin,” Lees said. “We brought her up with the view of trying to sneak her in with a bit of prizemoney. “She did that at the Sunshine Coast and snuck into the race, and we got Ollie [Damien Oliver] to come up and ride and the rest is history.” In a strongly run Oaks, Amokura got back in the field but Oliver weaved a passage and followed Reo, which looked the winner when it dashed into the race. However, Amokura got off her back and raced away to win by 1½ lengths, with Noah ‘N’ A Deel another 2¼ lengths away in third. “The pace was really good so we settled in the back of the field. I just got a beautiful run through and fortunately I was on one good enough to take me through the gaps when they were opening,” Oliver said. “She’s not only got a good turn of foot, she stays well too. When the race is run at that sort of tempo, for a filly that runs a strong distance, that helps.” Jones outrides city claim with confident surge Apprentice Reece Jones has surged in the past month to outride his claim, a job completed with a final-stride victory on Devil’s Throat for new bosses Peter and Paul Snowden at Rosehill on Saturday. Jones has been in the best form of his career since joining the Snowdens from John O’Shea in May, riding a treble and a double at the previous two Saturday meetings and backing it up with victory on Uzziah ($6) before scoring a second win on Devil’s Throat ($3.60 fav) this preparation. Jones has become the forgotten apprentice as Zac Lloyd, Dylan Gibbons and Tyler Schiller have climbed to the top of the jockeys title, but he is the fourth member of the young riders club that support each other in Sydney and is another natural talent. Reece Jones Credit: Getty “I thought I had a good chance of getting it today. Uzziah was a bit of a surprise, but I thought [Devil’s Throat] could win and he did – just,” Jones said. “It has been a goal of mine to get this done, and it has happened because of the help of a lot of people. Rod Northam taught me how to ride and be a jockey, then getting to town with John O’Shea and finally with Peter and Paul Snowden, who just give me confidence.” It took to the final stride for Devil’s Throat to grab leader Kipsbay ($4.20) to win by nose with Contemporary ($4) a head back in third. “It is great to see Reece do that because it is a big thing to outride your claim as an apprentice,” Paul Snowden said. “He is just getting a lot of confidence from winning, and when he came out today he just said to me it would be a rinse and repeat from a couple of weeks ago. “He rode it the same and got the result, but it was just a little closer than last time.” McEvoy’s masterful ride gives Al Aabir the Winter Cup Kerrin McEvoy is a master of the craft of riding stayers and he was the deciding factor as favourite Al Aabir ($2.80) took out Saturday’s Winter Cup and set up a possible crack at the Brisbane Cup next week. Al Aabir wins the Winter Cup. Credit: Getty McEvoy summed up a slowly- run 2400m listed race and took off 700m from home, backing the staying ability of Al Aabir, which was too strong for stablemate Desert Icon ($8) in a grind to the line. “That is what Kerrin can do; he sums up the race very quickly and made the right move at the right time,” premier trainer Chris Waller said. Waller won the Winter Cup with Irish Sequel last year before backing up to win the Brisbane Cup seven days later, and that is an option with Al Aabir. “If he is going I’ll be there to ride him. That was a very strong effort,” McEvoy said.