Sir Delius Announces Himself as Spring Star with Gutsy Underwood Stakes Win

Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott‘s import Sir Delius has shot to the top of the futures betting for the 2025 Melbourne Cup after a gutsy win in the Group 1 $1 million Underwood Stakes at Caulfield on Saturday.

Sir Delius winning the 2025 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield. Photo: Ultimate Racing Photos.

The class import, a well-bred son of Frankel, showed a brilliant turn of foot in the final stages of the race to defeat last year’s champion, Buckaroo.

In a thrilling finish, big-race specialist Craig Williams produced an impeccably timed ride aboard Sir Delius to wear down a gallant Buckaroo.

The defending champion for the Chris Waller stable looked to have the race sewn up after he charged down the outside to hit the lead with 200m to go. But inside the final furlong, Sir Delius ($2.10F) went to another level, lifting late and showing plenty of fight to surge through the middle to win by a half-length, with Golden Path a brave third.

Winning jockey Williams was full of praise for the horse, saying, “Gai and the stable presented me a really nice horse today. The exciting part is that he’s got so much upside from today.”

Williams noted the horse’s adaptability, saying, “When the chips were down he had to be tough and it’s his first way of going left-handed. He’s just such a weapon and when Blake came past me (on Buckaroo) I thought ‘oh no’, but I just kept urging him.”

He added, “I always said he reminded me of Duanaden; he’s got that great tenacity and great will to win. He laid back his ears and we got the win today. It’s really exciting. He goes home and Gai will look after him really well but he’s a really exciting horse going forward.”

For trainers Waterhouse and Bott, the victory was their third Underwood Stakes success in four years after Alligator Blood went back-to-back in 2022-23.

Waterhouse was ecstatic, describing her new star as “fabulous.” She told Racing Victoria, “I can’t describe how excited I am, I cannot tell you. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve seen in years… He was just fabulous.”

Waterhouse confirmed the plan is to follow the same path that led Fiorente to victory in the 2013 Melbourne Cup.

“It was Adrian’s program, and it was very much around Fiorente which we won the Melbourne Cup with in 2013,” Waterhouse explained.

“We’ll go to the Might And Power and then we’ll go to the Cox Plate and then that elusive race on the first Tuesday in November.”

Sir Delius is now the second favourite for the Group 1 $1 million Might And Power ($3.50) at Caulfield on October 11, and the Group 1 $6 million Ladbrokes Cox Plate ($5) a fortnight later.

His gutsy win has seen his odds for the $10 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 4 slashed from $11 to $6, making him the new favourite for the ‘race that stops a nation’ at Ladbrokes.

Sir Delius is currently allocated 55.5kg in the Melbourne Cup weights.

2025 Underwood Stakes Results

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