Son Of Churchill Rallies For Group 3 Victory

Imperialist (3g Churchill – Dancing Hare, by Fastnet Rock) produced a career-best performance to notch his first Group success in the $250,000 Group 3 Rough Habit Plate at Doomben.

Chris Waller’s charge had form at the track, landing The Phoenix – a Listed contest- last summer, before placing in Group 2 contests at Caulfield and Mooney Valley earlier this year. Returning to ten furlongs at the weekend, the Churchill gelding broke from a wide draw before racing close to the pace under Tommy Berry. Racing wide to take the lead down the back straight, he was headed in the home straight but battled back to score by a length and a quarter.

Berry commented: “Full credit to the team at home, this horse has always had ability but we just changed things up a little bit in the hope that we'd get a result.”

Chris Waller added: “We suggested to Tommy that we ride him a bit closer to the speed today. He had a nice soft time up front and it sparked some interest. He brought some good form to Sydney from Melbourne, but then didn't quite stay the 2400 metres.

“We'll try to make him stay now. I'll have a chat to Tommy (Berry) to see what he says, but I do have some concerns over the 2400 metres in the Queensland Derby. The Churchills tend to be slightly speedier horses, so we'll have a think over the next few days about whether or not we go there.”

Waller owns a share in the winner, along with a number of others, including Noel Greenhalgh. Bought by his trainer and Guy Mulcaster as a yearling for $170,000, the son of Churchill was bred by Arkle Bloodstock.