Last
Saturday the Mill Park sold three year-old Dawn Passage staked his claim for
spring glory with a returning win in the Listed ATC The Rosebud and this
Saturday we saw another Mill Park graduate put himself on the map as a rising
star with three year-old Dalasan winning the Group III SAJC Spring Stakes at
Morphettville.
After winning his first two starts at Morphettville last season at two, the
Dalakhani (IRE) colt Dalasan lost his unbeaten record when narrowly beaten in
the Group II VRC Sires' Produce Stakes at Flemington in March and was put away
for a break.
The Leon Macdonald and Andrew Gluyas-trained colt made his reappearance the Group
III Spring Stakes (1200m), where he turned over the odds on favourite, Scales Of
Justice.
It was the fifth win in the race for Macdonald who told racing.com that he had
considered taking the son of Dalakhani to Caulfield for the Vain Stakes before
opting to stay home.
Raquel Clark settled Dalasan midfield before following Scales Of Justice in to
the home straight. With a 6.5kgs advantage Dalasan defeated the son of Not A
Single Doubt by a length with the winner's stablemate Waging War (Rebel Raider)
a further two lengths back in third.
"He's a very big and very raw to the game so to put a Group 1 winner away as he
did, when I thought he was going to run a nice second, I couldn't be prouder of
him," Clark said.
"Leon has big plans for this horse and he has shown us a lot since day one so
hopefully if they stick with me I will stick with them."
Macdonald said he would plot a path to the Caulfield Guineas.
"He's a very good horse, he might even win the Caulfield Guineas," Macdonald
said.
"I wasn't really expecting him to win today, I thought if he runs a nice third
I'd have been very happy.
"I haven't really mapped out a programme for him I just wanted to see how he
went today. He is just a genuine racehorse."
An $80,000 Inglis Premier purchase for his trainers from the Mill Park draft,
Dalasan was bred by the SA based Toorak Thoroughbred Breeding Trust and is the
second winner from stakes-placed Kitten's Joy (USA) mare Khandallah, who comes
from an international family featuring Group winners Galic Boy, Smokey Stover
and Dreadnaught.
Mill Park sold a colt by Dissident from Khandallah at Inglis Premier this year
for $110,000 and the mare has foaled this spring already producing a filly by
So You Think.
Dalasan is the 53rd stakes-winner worldwide for Dalakhani (IRE), who
shuttled to Cornerstone Stud for three seasons.