Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott‘s progressive stayer, Sir Delius, confirmed his status as a spring powerhouse at Flemington on Saturday, making it back-to-back Group 1 victories with an emphatic win in the 2025 Turnbull Stakes over Antino and the beaten favourite, Via Sistina.

2025 Turnbull Stakes winner Sir Delius was huge enjoying back-to-back Group 1 victories. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The five-year-old son of Frankel continued his excellent spring campaign, adding the Group 1 $750,000 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) to his Underwood Stakes title, cementing his path toward the Melbourne Cup.

Waterhouse Hails “Marvelous Animal”

Co-trainer Gai Waterhouse was full of praise for the import, who is now three-from-four since joining the stable.

“He really is (a marvelous animal); a most exciting horse,” she told Racing.com after the win.

“He’s put on condition (since the Underwood).

“He’s relaxed more and whatever he runs in, they’re going to have to beat him.”

Sir Delius relished the step-up in distance, easily accounting for a top-class field thanks to a brilliant ride by big-race specialist Craig Williams, despite the wide barrier draw.

Waterhouse credited Williams for overcoming a tough position: “He (Williams) had a bit of difficulty. He had a wide draw (14) and he elected very quickly, which he said to me he might, he came in midfield and then he got caught in a pocket and any lesser jockey would not have got out of. The waters opened, and he went boom. That was the exciting part, the boom!”

From fifth place at the 400m mark, Williams managed to extract Sir Delius in the straight, wearing down the brave Tony Gollan-trained Queenslander Antino before drawing away to win by 1.75 lengths.

Post-Race Reaction and Future Targets

Antino’s jockey, Blake Shinn, was proud of his charge, who ran second: “Super proud of him. Had the back of the winner early and then Craig had a bit of luck getting to one-off. From the 1400 (metre mark) I was left exposed, but the pace came out at that point of the race and Antino likes to have a bit of room. He blended into the turn super and got run down by a star. Great run.”

Meanwhile, last year’s champion and reigning eight-length Cox Plate winner Via Sistina settled for third, losing back-to-back races for the first time in Australia.

Her jockey, James McDonald, remained optimistic about her chances in The Valley showpiece, saying: “I think she’s going well. That tough run will harden her up a bit for the Cox Plate.”

Williams was quick to describe the winner as a “proper horse”: “He is a great horse and it’s good people are getting behind him. I’ve been lucky to get on him. Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse, the horse’s trainers, all their staff, Sir Owen Glenn’s colours and all the owners, the horse they paid a big price for in Europe, you can see why he’s a proper horse. In Group 1 races, you don’t think you can win like that. We were very confident he could do it. We had the outside barrier draw. Gai and Adrian were very good about having an open book without too much pressure about riding him. I had to use a few carrots to find a spot, but when the chips are down, this horse is a winner.”

Sir Delius is now the outright $4 favourite in futures Melbourne Cup betting at Ladbrokes. However, he could first have a rematch with Via Sistina in the Group 1 $6 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate (2040m) on October 25, having surged ahead of his rival to be the new $2.50 favourite in the all-in Cox Plate odds.

2025 Turnbull Stakes Results

THINK. IS THIS A BET YOU REALLY WANT TO PLACE?

For free and confidential support call 1800 858 858 or visit gamblinghelponline.org.au.

This page and the written content within it were partially generated using AI or automated technology and edited and verified by our editorial team.