My Kingdom Of Fife, once raced by the Queen, made an unexpected arrival on Australia's weight-for-age stage with a stirring Queen Elizabeth Stakes win at Randwick on Saturday.And amid wild mounting yard celebrations, even a Royal Ascot homecoming received a mention in dispatches for the horse who is now unbeaten in two Australian starts under the care of trainer Chris Waller."Don't worry about the Wagga Cup, we might head back to Ascot," part-owner Rob Willis declared as he waited for one of the
My Kingdom Of Fife, once raced by the Queen, made an unexpected arrival on Australia's weight-for-age stage with a stirring Queen Elizabeth Stakes win at Randwick on Saturday.
And amid wild mounting yard celebrations, even a Royal Ascot homecoming received a mention in dispatches for the horse who is now unbeaten in two Australian starts under the care of trainer Chris Waller.
"Don't worry about the Wagga Cup, we might head back to Ascot," part-owner Rob Willis declared as he waited for one of the autumn's most unlikely Group One winners to return to scale.
Told his owners were looking further afield than a NSW country Cup, Waller replied: "I think they are going to say a lot of things like that before the end of the day."
Specked as a $13 chance, My Kingdom Of Fife put himself in the race as the field headed for home and he fought hard to ward off the Doncaster Mile winner Sacred Choice ($3.80 eq fav) before winning by three-quarters of a length.
Waller also trained the third placegetter Syreon ($11) who was a neck away third ahead of the other equal favourite Retrieve.
Waller has been sourcing United Kingdom stayers for several seasons and his forays have led to a domination of Sydney staying races.
In My Kingdom Of Fife he struck a $300,000 payday with a horse who the owners bought to win the Wagga Wagga Gold Cup in a few weeks.
"We are all living the dream really with this horse. We bought a horse off the Queen and here we are winning the race named after her," Waller said.
Asked what was the secret to his success with imported stayers, Waller said: "There is no genius involved, it's an environment thing.
"He is a happy horse. There is something about our stable which is making him happy.
"He's found the key to life again."
With that in mind, Waller hopes to unlock more Group One doors for the rising seven-year-old.
"I don't make too many decisions on race day but he would certainly be hard to beat in a Doomben Cup," he said.
Nash Rawiller said he was forced to shorten his grip on My Kingdom Of Fife's reins in the middle stages of the race.
"I had him on a long rein but he wasn't really travelling so I decided to grab hold of him and he was much better," Rawiller said.
"He put himself into the race when it counted."
Sacred Choice was being hailed the winner when she loomed up in the middle of the track and she was brave to the finish.
"She was very courageous but the 2000 metres at weight-for-age just found her out slightly," jockey Tim Clark said.
A decision on Sacred Choice's racing future will be put on hold but owner Glenn Fraser said there was a strong case for her to race on for at least part of the spring carnival.
"We might bring her back and see what happens after a few runs," he said. "I'm a breeder but there is a lot of fun involved in racing her."
Retrieve, trying to join Intergaze as a three-year-old winner of the Queen Elizabeth, hit the lead turning for home before he was swamped by the placegetters.