This year's rescheduled Queensland Derby (G1) proved worth the wait for training partners John O'Shea and Tom Charlton, as did the emergence of Super Seth's Maison Louis, who at AU$21 led home a quinella for his stable in the Eagle Farm classic.
The winning gelding was last seen finishing fourth in the Rough Habit Plate (G3) at Doomben Racecourse May 17 in what was his first attempt at stakes level, and clearly thrived for the extra 400 meters June 7.
Coming from three back on the fence under Ryan Maloney, Maison Louis found a gap shortly after turning and showed grit to break through the five-strong line in the final 200 meters, putting distance between him and his rivals.
Among them was his more fancied stablemate King of Thunder, who just denied Maison Louis a placing at Doomben, and who despite sticking on came up a length short this time around.
Chase Your Dreams was another neck behind, rounding out a trifecta for New Zealand-breds.
In what was a first win for Maison Louis beyond Benchmark 64 grade, his Derby victory also marked a fourth individual group 1 winner for Waikato Stud's promising second-season sire Super Seth, following on from the feats of Feroce, La Dorada, and Linebacker.
The latter of that trio was the first elite-level winner for the O'Shea and Charlton partnership when taking out the Randwick Guineas (G1) in March, a success quickly followed by Schwarz's William Reid Stakes (G1) win for the Sydney stable.
Maison Louis brought up a third group 1 for the burgeoning pair, who are only in their first season together.
A rapt O'Shea was quick to commend both the gelding's constitution—now boasting four wins from seven starts since his February debut at Hawkesbury—and his rapidly rising sire, who has produced seven stakes winners from 82 runners to date.
"I'm a proud Queenslander, not just a Queenslander, so it's a big thrill today," he said.
"He's just been a progressive horse by a top young stallion in Super Seth. It's one of the few horses that we have for Go Racing, who do a wonderful job.
"He's just a tough, resilient little horse and he's come from obscurity to win a Queensland Derby so we're very excited.
"I think the key was that he was able to cope with the workload. He's just a great doer and a good, tough horse."
Winning rider Maloney, who had earlier landed the Spear Chief Handicap aboard the Tony Gollan-trained Transatlantic, said: "It was a very dawdling-run Derby, and when J-Mac (James McDonald) sort of made his move (aboard favorite Belle Detelle) at the half-mile, he increased the tempo, but not by a hell of a lot.
"We were sort of on the fence and everyone was starting to want to get to that better ground, and John (O'Shea) wanted me to get one off, but after the scratchings, we ended up drawing one.
"But that's why I wanted to be three back the fence, so I had two options when I wanted to stake my claim. When he got the gap, he pinned his ears back and was just tough as nails."
Queensland Oaks
After racing with merit against top-notch fillies throughout the year, Australia-bred You Wahng was not to be denied in the Queensland Oaks (G1), gamely fending off Pinito to give her trainer Kris Lees a third win in the race.
Third in the Australian Oaks (G1) at Randwick in April when beaten just three-quarters of a length by star 3-year-old Treasurethe Moment, You Wahng came into the Eagle Farm contest off the back of a fifth-place finish in the The Roses (G2) behind Philia.
Rated a Au$21 chance herself, the daughter of So You Think ambled to the lead off the home bend under Tommy Berry and was able to repel the menacing challenge of Godolphin's Pinito, coming out the defiant winner by a head.
Australasian Oaks (G1) winner Benagil finished another three-quarter length back in third after incurring some traffic in the straight.
Meanwhile, Philia finished eighth, with Kerrin McEvoy commenting that his filly failed to muster early speed and was unable to take up a suitable position in the run.
"Lovely ride from Tommy," Lees, who also won the classic with Amokura in 2023 and Vitesse Dane in 2005, said.
"He was able to get us straight across from the gate and got into a lovely position in running.
"He had a lot of horse coming to the corner, but I was always just a little guarded that last furlong when she presented, but she was able to find under pressure."
Lees added a tongue tie to the filly after she finished last at Gosford before her The Roses run, which the Newcastle trainer put down to her being fresh.
"She ran really well in an ATC Oaks," he said.
"I think she was very plain at Gosford when we just gave her a fresh run. We applied a tongue tie, and it's really worked out well."
Riding his first Queensland Oaks winner, Berry added: "She was a little bit underdone last start (in The Roses) with the let-up between the Sydney Carnival and here. She just felt so much more relaxed. She was just ready to go today, so it was a brilliant training performance.
"I really timed my run today, and lucky she's only half-a-horse wide because she could take them sticky little tight runs, but it's just unbelievable. It's awesome to do it."
Kingsford-Smith Cup
Chris Waller has etched another record into the annals of Australian racing history, claiming his 19th group 1 win of the season courtesy of a thrilling last-stride victory by Joliestar in Saturday's AU$1 million Kingsford-Smith Cup (G1) at Eagle Farm.
The performance saw Waller eclipse his own benchmark of 18 elite-level wins set in 2018-19, a season headlined by the final triumphs of his legendary mare Winx.
This season, it has been his outstanding European import Via Sistina who led the charge with seven group 1 wins, while Saturday saw Joliestar contribute a second this term after her classy Newmarket Handicap (G1) success in March.
Backed into AU$2.40 favoritism for the Eagle Farm feature despite being off the track since her half-length second in the All Aged Stakes (G1) in April, Joliestar was ridden patiently by James McDonald and found herself with plenty to do on the turn as Zarastro and Golden Mile dashed for home.
The 4-year-old mare rose to the challenge however, producing a relentless stand-side run which propelled her past Zarastro in the final yards, claiming her third group 1 by a short head, with Golden Mile the same margin further back in third.
"There was not one stage where I thought she was going to win the race," an honest McDonald said.
"Then she put in this humungous dive with two strides to go and I thought, I'm a little chance here and I looked up and saw the cameraman. She is a super mare."
Waller was quick to hail the ride by McDonald, having been concerned over the lack of runners coming from off the pace during the day.
"It's been hard to run the leaders down today and we discussed prerace where we can't change our racing pattern," the record-breaking trainer said.
"But in saying that, it was a lovely ride from James. He went straight across from the barriers and got in front of Giga Kick and one or two others, and that was probably the winning of the race."
Now a six-time winner from 15 starts, Waller hinted that Joliestar could again be targeted at The Everest (G1) in the spring after she flashed home for a luckless seventh in last October's edition.
"It was a mission that we missed out on last spring so we will have a chat about it," he said.
"She is a lovely horse. She's got a great record. She did it at 3, she has won a Newmarket and had a lot of bad luck along the way.
"She is a pleasure to be training. The stable at the Gold Coast call her 'The Queen' so we will run with that. She is the Queen of Queensland today, anyway."
