Avalon digs deep for second Group One win
3 Mins Read Hearts pumping: The Shane Nichols-trained Streets of Avalon fends off all challenges to win his second Group One race in the C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield. Picture: Supplied Share
Picture: Supplied
HORSE RACING
SHANE Nichols’ gutsy galloper Streets of Avalon has dug deep to bring up his second Group One victory in Saturday’s C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
Having claimed the Group One Futurity Stakes over the same track and trip a year ago, Streets of Avalon once again fought hard to fend off the challenges and land a half-length victory over the Chris Waller-trained Imaging in Saturday’s feature race.
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When Zac Spain returned to scale as a Group 1-winning jockey at Caulfield on Saturday aboard Streets Of Avalon after the running of the C.F. Orr Stakes, it signified how far the 24-year-old had come.
Having grown up in Darwin, Spain moved to South Australia and first sat on a horse at the age of 15. He would learn to ride at TAFE in Adelaide and his first race ride would come two years later at Streaky Bay, some 700 kilometres west of Adelaide. I grew up in Darwin and Gary Kennewell used to take a lot of horses there for the Carnival, Spain revealed in an interview on
Avalon digs deep for second Group One win
Picture: Supplied
HORSE RACING
SHANE Nichols’ gutsy galloper Streets of Avalon has dug deep to bring up his second Group One victory in Saturday’s C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.
Having claimed the Group One Futurity Stakes over the same track and trip a year ago, Streets of Avalon once again fought hard to fend off the challenges and land a half-length victory over the Chris Waller-trained Imaging in Saturday’s feature race.
There was a roar on course as jockey Zac Spain saluted aboard the gelding to ride his first Group One winner and bring up Mornington-based trainer Shane Nichols’ third Group One success.
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Two Group 1 placings from just a handful of opportunities at the elite level have kept the fire burning for Zac Spain, who will ride Streets Of Avalon in the $500,000 G1 Neds C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
The 24-year-old took the opportunity last year to return to his home state of South Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic and in doing so finished second in the Australasian Oaks aboard Moonlight Maid and third when partnering Lyre in the Goodwood Handicap.
While any maiden G1 success would be special, there is no doubting when Spain takes the reins for the 25th time on Shane Nichols stable star on Saturday it will be a dream come true.
Homesman will almost certainly be at the mercy of the voting public as trainers Anthony and Sam Freedman look at a possible first-up tilt at the All-Star Mile for The Valley lover.
His only unplaced run at The Valley was behind Lys Gracieux in the 2019 Cox Plate.
Sam Freedman said the seven-year-old is back in work preparing for his autumn campaign. He said connections had not locked in Homesman’s program but the All-Star Mile was the priority.
“He’s good. He’s back in and going very well, he’s quite forward,” Freedman said.
“Hopefully, he gets a run in the All-Star Mile and we can look at going into it either first or second-up.