Trainer Chris Waller and owner Debbie Kepitis were understandably emotional after experiencing the highs and lows of racing during a tumultuous week culminating with Fangirl’s spectacular win at Royal Randwick on Saturday. Fangirl showed she is back to her supreme best with a stunning last-to-first effort in the $1 million 7 Stakes (1600m) . The brilliant mare gave Waller and Kepitis reason to put behind them a horror few days after the passing of their triple Group 1 winner Riff Rocket following complications from colic surgery last Monday.
“It’s been a terrible week,” Waller said. “This is an amazing industry, these horses that we look after so well and when you lose one..
. it’s really tough. “There are so many aspects of it, the strappers, the owners, everyone has been feeling it this week but at least Fangirl has made Debbie smile today.
” Fangirl ($1.75), with jockey James McDonald wearing the famous all-cerise colours of the Ingham family, settled at the rear of the field, went widest on the turn, and zoomed down the outside to score by a half-length from My Oberon ($31) with Royal Patronage ($4.40) a half-length away third.
Waller trained a hat-trick of feature races in quick succession at Randwick with Fangirl’s win coming after the successes of Autumn Glow in the Group 2 Tea Rose Stakes and McHale in the Group 3 Bill Ritchie Handicap. Then, to put the icing on the cake, the Waller-trained Buckaroo won the Group 1 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield within .