David Payne's Proxima Dea overcame a wide run to win the Group 1 VRC Oaks by a length and three-quarters and keep her perfect record intact.
Proxima Dea is now six from six. The Sydney filly took out the Group 1 VRC Oaks (2500m) at Flemington on Thursday, beating Shameful Impulse by a length and three-quarters, with Wakeful Stakes winner De Armas holding third.
Trained by veteran David Payne and ridden by Zac Lloyd, Proxima Dea went into the race as favourite at around $2.10 and did everything the market expected, even though the run was far from easy.
Three wide with no cover
Drawn second-widest in a field of 16, Proxima Dea jumped well but couldn't find cover and spent most of the trip three wide. That can be a race-ending run over 2500m for a three-year-old filly, yet she still took over early in the long Flemington straight, opened up a break and was going away again over the last 200m.
It came just 12 days after she beat the colts in the Spring Champion Stakes at Randwick, and it continues a rise that started with a maiden win at Randwick in July before wins at Gosford, Rosehill and in the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes.
A career-defining horse
Payne, who has been training for more than half a century, suggested this could be the horse he has waited his whole career for. He also admitted he had wondered whether she should have taken on the colts in the Derby instead. She now heads for a well-earned spell, with Payne making no secret that a Melbourne Cup is the dream down the track.
For Lloyd, 23, it was an eighth Group 1 and his first in Melbourne. The day had a sting in the tail, though: stewards suspended him for a total of 21 meetings for two careless riding charges earlier on the card, one in Race 1 on Chiringita and one in Race 2 on Alabama Fox. He pleaded guilty to both, and the suspensions run back to back from 8 November.
Other Oaks Day winners
- Red Roses Stakes (G3, 1100m): Lady Catalina (Ciaron Maher, Blake Shinn) beat the favourite Sequinned by a nose.
- Inglis Bracelet (1600m): Bella Verona (Matt Laurie, Pat Moloney) beat odds-on favourite Sass Appeal by more than two lengths with blinkers on for the first time.
- Country Final ($500,000): Sulek (Dom Sutton, Billy Egan) came from back in the field to beat Wetumpka.
- Sigma Trophy (1800m): Nobbler (Chris Waller, Damian Lane).
The punting angle
Fillies who win the Oaks after a tough, wide run are worth marking for next autumn and beyond. Proxima Dea is clearly above average, but the bigger lesson is in the beaten brigade: anything that ran on strongly behind her over 2500m is worth noting when the staying fillies' races come around again.