Winners: Luke Currie on Sunlight.Credit:AAP
The Coolmore Stud Stakes has rapidly established a reputation as a stallion-making race, one which attracts the top sprinting colts.
Victory in this group 1 contest usually adds several noughts to the value of a top class youngster whose post-racing career is guaranteed once he passes the post first.
So how ironic was it that the only filly in the race, Sunlight, should show all the colts and geldings a clean pair of heels, proving too tough and speedy for the nine male rivals in her wake.
Sunlight, trained by Tony McEvoy at Flemington and ridden by Luke Currie, took out the $1 million race from the Chris Waller-trained Zousain, with the latter's stablemate Lean Mean Machine a length away third, just in front of the well-backed Written By, who had won a Blue Diamond as a two-year-old.
On Friday McEvoy had acknowledged how important this race had become as a major plank upon which a colt's breeding career could be built.
In the same breath he declared that he had every intention of being a party-pooper and couldn't care less if that made him the most disliked man on the track, at least for a short while, if Sunlight could once again prove that when it comes to racing the females are often the deadliest.
Sunlight led home a trifecta who were all sired by the same stallion – Zoustar – who had himself won this race in 2013.
Afterwards McEvoy was delighted to have been justified in backing up his three-year-old filly over the demanding 1200-metre Flemington straight just eight days after she had endured a frustrating run against the older horses in the group 1 Manikato Stakes at The Valley on Cox Plate eve.
"She was very brave, she's always had a lot of fight in her. They all had their chance to beat her, she did it pretty much from the front in her normal manner and she was very courageous. She's a star," he said.
"I am happy to win any race, and I understand the measure of what this can do for a colt, I certainly get it. But look, when you have a filly like this, as good as she is, why not.
"She only had to walk over the road [from her Flemington stable]. She backed up from no luck last week and it just showed today that if she had the luck last week she would have won the Manikato. After what happened at Moonee Valley there was no choice but to come here."
Sunlight ridden by Luke Currie (white cap with stars) upsets the males in the Coolmore Stud Stakes.Credit:AAP
Any doubts that McEvoy had about her running out the trip over were dispelled.
"The old saying is that it takes a 1400-metre horse to win a straight six, and she certainly has got the strength."
McEvoy has forged a strong partnership in recent years with Currie, and he talked up his rider's attributes.
"He's very underrated, he's got beautiful hands, he's very strong, he's a very experienced rider and he is a nice guy and works hard. I love him."
Currie has won group 1s for McEvoy on Hey Doc in recent seasons but said the occasion – Derby Day – and the magnitude of this race made the win extra special.
"I am rapt, she deserves a group 1 next to her name. She was tough today," Currie said.
"I thought when Written By had us really stretched that one might come off our backs, but we were running when we quickened, and I knew she would relax really well through the run, that she was going to be strong right through the line. But it was hard for her late.''
Reflecting on his association with McEvoy, Currie recalled that it had begun in unpromising circumstances.
"It's been three years, I suppose. I had never had a ride for him before I linked up with him. He's changed my life definitely.
"My first ride for him was on Don't Doubt Mama who ran third at Moonee Valley. She was about 100-1. Then I ran third on her the next start at Caulfield, and it snowballed from there."
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