After living in the shadow of his stablemate Astern, the royally-bred Impending had his moment in the sun in Saturday's $200,000 Group II Stan Fox Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill Gardens.
James McDonald settled the son of Lonhro at the tail of the six-horse field.
He looked to be in trouble when Christian Reith made
McDonald got the back of Divine Prophet, who was full of running but could not hold the finishing surge of the Godolphin colt.
Impending defeated Divine Prophet (Choisir) by a neck with three-quarters of a length back to the honest Good Standing (Artie Schiller) in third.(photos Lisa Grimm)
After placing behind Astern in the Group II Run To The Rose and the Group 1 Golden Rose, Impending broke through for his first stakes win to advance his overall record to 2 wins and 3 thirds from 5 starts with earnings of $320,750.
"He's a good horse in his own right," McDonald said. "I think he's a Group I horse for sure, he's in the shadow of Astern. He's got a great turn of foot and a great nature.
"The blinkers worked wonders and I had a beautiful run.
"It's full steam to the (Caulfield) Guineas and he'll be hard to beat."
A half-brother to the Group III Cameron handicap winner Forget (Exceed And Excel), Impending is the fifth foal of the outstanding mare Mnemosyne who captured her first Group 1 in the 1000 Guineas at Caulfield defeating Rewaaya and Serenade Rose.
Back in Sydney, the daughter of Encosta de Lago earned a second Group 1 in the Queen Of The Turf Stakes.
Bred by a partnership that included former champion
Inherited by Darley after the purchase of Woodlands, Mnemosyne is also the dam of the talented Street Cry mare Memorial who ran fifth in Mossfun's Golden Slipper and was second to Bring Me The Maid in the Group II Silver Shadow Stakes at Randwick.
Mnemosyne has a 2yo Lonhro filly named Epidemic. She slipped to Dawn Approach (IRE) in 2014 and was bred back to Sepoy last spring.
Impending becomes the 64th stakes-winner for Darley Stud's Lonhro who stands at Kelvinside for a fee of $88,000 inc GST.
