Class proved superior in Thursday’s VRC Oaks when Sydney filly Proxima Dea maintained her undefeated status with a resounding win in the $1 million Group 1 at Flemington.
The David Payne-trained filly secured her sixth career victory, carrying the highly-touted jockey Zac Lloyd to his first Group 1 win in Melbourne over the 2500-metre distance.
The Oaks success came just 12 days after Proxima Dea defeated the colts in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m), leading her veteran trainer to suggest she might be the horse he has waited his entire 54-year training career for.
“I want to win the Melbourne Cup, so maybe I’ll have to hang in there,” Payne said. “She’s such a good mover and she doesn’t spend an ounce of energy. She’d bred to stay and from day one I said the Oaks and I stuck to it. Maybe I should have gone for the Derby, I don’t know, but she’ll go for a holiday now and she deserves it. This is her first prep and she’s won six in a row and two Group Ones.”
Proxima Dea, a daughter of Tarzino and Invisible Coin, making her a sister to the Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess, logged her Oaks win 117 days after debuting successfully in a 1400-metre 2YO Handicap at Randwick on July 11. This was followed by a Class 1 victory over 1600m at Gosford, then an 1800m Midway success at Rosehill, before her first Stakes grade challenge, which yielded a win in the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes (1800m) on October 10.
In none of those previous outings did she experience as demanding a run as her Victorian debut.
Lloyd skillfully guided her from the second-widest barrier in the 16-horse field, but was forced to race three-wide for much of the trip due to rivals who were acutely aware of the $2.10 favourite’s presence.
Despite the challenging run, Proxima Dea took the lead early in the long Flemington straight and established a lead of more than a length, which she extended in the final furlong.
At the finish line, she held a 1-3/4 length advantage over the fast-finishing Shameful Impulse ($41), who snatched second place from Saturday’s Wakeful Stakes winner and $3.50 second favourite De Armas right at the post.
Lloyd, who had teamed with Victorian trainers Mick Pride and Michael Kent Jr to win this year’s Golden Slipper with Guest House, was delighted to join forces with fellow South African Payne for his significant breakthrough win in Melbourne.
“To get a Group 1 in Melbourne (is great), hopefully I can keep on coming back for these carnivals and take a bit of money,” the 23-year-old, who now has eight Group 1s to his name, stated. “We said all along, as long as David was confident, I had nothing to worry about it. She’s bred to do it but she might be the best one on the page. That was some performance.”
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