A significant upset shook Flemington on Saturday, as Dominic Sutton‘s Feroce defied expectations to win the 2025 Australian Guineas.
2025 Australian Guineas winner Feroce. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.
The three-year-old Super Seth gelding, priced at $14, delivered a stunning performance, securing a three-quarters of a length victory under a brilliant ride from Billy Egan.
The absence of race favourite Angel Capital, withdrawn on race morning, opened the door for other contenders.
Feroce seized the opportunity, handing trainer Sutton his first Group 1 success in just his second year of training.
“I can’t even think of a word to say right now. Crazy. I’ve got so many people to thank,” Sutton told Racing.com.
“To the horse, look, we can’t do it without the horse, and he’s just an absolute warrior.
“We thought we had him right for the day.
“Everyone sort of probably wrote him off a little bit off his first up run, but Bill just came in and said he’s flying, mate.
“He just hated the soft ground, I can’t quite believe it, to be honest.
“It’s going to take a few days to settle in.
“To be honest, I’ve just been having a really tough run of running seconds recently, so I was hoping to just get a winner anywhere.
“So, to do it on the biggest stage of all with this horse, he’s been the flag bearer for our stable since day one.”
Stay Focus led the field with 350m to go, before Savaglee, a Kiwi raider, challenged on the outside.
Savaglee briefly took the lead at the 200m mark, but Feroce, ridden by Egan, unleashed a powerful late surge to overtake the New Zealander and secure a decisive victory.
“I was just hoping he’d really knuckle down and go past that leader,” Sutton said of the final 100m.
“He’s had a tendency of just getting his head up a little bit, but once Billy changed the stick through, and gave him a couple more reminders, he really let down and flew.”
Goldrush Guru, the Victoria Derby champion, finished third, further enhancing his autumn campaign with the longer distanced features approaching.
Feroce’s victory was a redemption of sorts, having finished a devastatingly close second to Private Life in the Caulfield Guineas last spring.
His lead-up third in the CS Hayes Stakes indicated his readiness for this race.
“It took a long time to get over the Caulfield Guineas, I’m not going to lie,” Sutton said.
“A lot of people were congratulating us, but I still felt pretty bitter about it all, thinking that we could have won on that day.
“And we all know how hard it is to win these races and to have a horse good enough and present him in the right order on the day.
“So, sometimes you think, ‘Am I going to be waiting for a long time now until the next one comes along?’
“But the horse has just been super. He’s just improved, improved, improved.”
Feroce’s Australian Guineas win guarantees him a start in the $2.5 million All-Star Mile at Flemington on March 8.
He’s now at $21 in the pre-field All-Star Mile markets at Ladbrokes.
2025 Australian Guineas Results
| Finish | No. | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | Margin | Bar. | Weight | Penalty | Starting Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | FEROCE (NZ) | Dominic Sutton | Billy Egan | 9 | 57kg | $14 | |||
| 2 | 2 | SAVAGLEE (NZ) | Pam Gerard | Michael Dee | 0.75L | 6 | 57kg | $11 | ||
| 3 | 1 | GOLDRUSH GURU | Andrew Gluyas | Ms Jamie Melham | 1.75L | 5 | 57kg | $7.50 | ||
| 4 | 12 | SEPALS | Cliff Brown | Blake Shinn | 2.1L | 3 | 57kg | $3.70F | ||
| 5 | 15 | PLYMOUTH | Michael Moroney & Glen Thompson | Craig Williams | 3.1L | 4 | 57kg | $17 | ||
| 6 | 8 | STAY FOCUSED | Phillip Stokes | Thomas Stockdale | 3.6L | 7 | 57kg | $31 | ||
| 7 | 9 | OPENING ADDRESS (NZ) | Liam Howley | Craig Newitt | 3.62L | 12 | 57kg | $81 | ||
| 8 | 7 | POINT AND SHOOT | Bjorn Baker | Damian Lane | 4.87L | 1 | 57kg | $4.20 | ||
| 9 | 10 | NDOLA | Ben, Will & JD Hayes | Luke Currie | 5.17L | 10 | 57kg | $14 | ||
| 10 | 11 | ROYAL INSIGNIA | Grahame Begg | Jamie Mott | 5.92L | 13 | 57kg | $12 | ||
| 11 | 6 | RED ACES | Nick Ryan | Rhys McLeod | 6.17L | 2 | 57kg | $101 | ||
| 12 | 13 | SAVOUR THE DREAM (NZ) | Bevan Laming | Martin Harley | 6.37L | 11 | 57kg | $21 | ||
| 13 | 14 | DETROIT CITY | Dominic Sutton | Harry Coffey | 7.87L | 8 | 57kg | $61 | ||
| 14 | 17e | STATUARIO | Emma-Lee & David Browne | Lachlan Neindorf | 7.97L | 15 | 57kg | $81 | ||
| 15 | 5 | HENLEIN | Anthony & Sam Freedman | Mark Zahra | 9.72L | 14 | 57kg | $26 | ||
Table Credit: Racing Australia.
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