Melbourne Cup day always draws a huge crowd out to Perth's beautiful old Ascot racecourse, and 2025 was no exception!
On a warm and humid Spring afternoon all eyes in the west were glued to the giant infield screen, and a roar went up as Jamie Melham and Half Yours raced their way into Cup history and another victory for the Aussies!
After that excitement, the feature race on Ascot’s Cup Day card was also keenly anticipated - the Listed Burgess Queen Stakes over 1400m.
There was a lot on the line for the connections of WA's finest three year old fillies, as they contested the traditional lead up to the G3 Champion Fillies Stakes.
The Adam Durrant trained Playin'it Sweet has been earmarked by track watchers and punters as a Champion Fillies type since she made her debut at Ascot in May.
This daughter of the amazingly prolific sire Playing God hadn't been unplaced in her seven starts and had won four.
This would be her first stakes race - but the talented young progeny of the stallion rarely fail to make the transition, and punters weren't concerned.
They installed Playin’ It Sweet as a hot favourite over Talkanco (I'm All The Talk) - last year's Karrakatta Plate heroine had returned in fine fettle with a brilliant win and a fast closing effort in the Belgravia Stakes, but the conditions of the race meant she would carry 2.5kg more than her rival.
Nevertheless the Pearce stable's ultra-consistent and classy Talkanco had some good support, as did the flying machine Ourgirlcanrun (Long Leaf) - she can, too!
Possessed of brilliant gate speed and a freewheeling running style, Mitchell Pateman's Ourgirlcanrun was guaranteed to put good pace into the race. The step up to 1400m looked like it might suit the filly and though a maiden from three starts, she was kept very safe in betting.
It was a field containing plenty of largely untapped potential and we'll be hearing more about some of these girls in the months ahead!
Fine Star ( Fierce Impact), Zourun Run (Zoustar), Riva Aquarama (Star Turn) and Moonwalk (Bondi) have all displayed plenty of ability in a handful of starts.
The other maiden in the race was Dan Morton's promising Exceedance daughter Pure Excess - unlucky first up and placed in all three runs to date.
Split The Gee (Rommel) and God's Rapture (Playing God) were at long odds, the latter a consistent filly but appearing to be looking for further than 1400m. Kazana (Awesome Rock) had won her provincial maiden in nice style but was facing a big ask here at her second start.
A spring storm rolled in just as the runners were parading, so back they went to their stalls! There was little rain to affect the good track, but thunder and lightning delayed the start for around forty five minutes.
When sunshine returned and the race got underway it was Holly Watson and Ourgirlcanfly who rocketed out of the barriers, and as expected shot to the lead. The filly has superior early speed and she ran them along at a cracking pace.
Playin’ It Sweet under Lucy Fiore had also jumped well and was keen to make an early race of it but Fiore persuaded her to let the leader go, and they took up second place behind her.
Brad Parnham was mindful to get Talkanco positioned closer today in third, outside Zourun Run on the rails fourth.
Fine Star was caught a little deep outside Pure Excess and God's Rapture, while the inexperienced Kazana was up with them but pulling her head off.
Ourgirlcanrun went out by a length and a half and was able to get a nice little breather mid race with Holly controlling the tempo.
Fine Star had little option but to take off at the 600, God's Rapture on her tail.
As heads turned for home the race was on in earnest! Ourgirlcanrun railed like the proverbial greyhound but Playin'it Sweet had been stalking her all the way, and now stoked up by Fiore she responded strongly at the 200 and charged to the lead.
Talkanco was coming! She bore on relentlessly as the finish post neared, but Playin'it Sweet was tough and resolute, had the weight advantage and was able to hold the gallant Talkanco off to win by a long neck.
Pure Excess had been momentarily held up and made very good ground on the rail when the space appeared running into third one and a quarter lengths away.
The time for the 1400m race was a very quick 1.22.82.
Playin'it Sweet becomes the 24th stakes winner for Playing God and advances her career record to 8 wins from 5 starts and $478,380 in earnings.
Lucy Fiore rode the 2015 Burgess Queen winner Blackwood by Playing God's sire Blackfriars - who placed in the Champion Fillies.
Blackfriars was a wonderful sire but breeders worked out he needed a fast mare to bring out his best.
He sired four placegetters of the Champion Fillies Stakes, but none of them quite had the sustained brilliance to win it.
His son Playing God is out of a Rubiton mare and that's the major reason he is an even better sire than his old man - that Rubiton brand of ferocious speed!
Playing God sired Kay Cee to win the 2019 Burgess Queen, but she too could only place in the Champion Fillies.
As far as speedy damlines go, they don't get much better than Playin'it Sweet’s - as we'll see - but it's not clear that the filly will even line up for the mile feature in 11 days time.
Adam Durrant is always gracious, win or lose - and he was quick to acknowledge the great 1600m trial produced by the runner up Talkanco.
“Credit to the second horse, that filly is a top filly too and she was hunting us down with those 3 extra kilos. It's going to be an interesting Champion Fillies coming up because it was a really good effort from the second horse,” said the winning trainer.
“But take nothing away from our girl - she had to sit outside the leader, she was a bit keen early. We maybe need to get her to chill a bit to get the mile, looking at that she was quite up on the bit early.
"We might have to look at some gear changes or even go back to looking at the Placid Ark…. it's a hard one because as a three year old filly, we don't know her distance range, but she's a beauty.
"There's not much of her, she's lean and mean but she eats, you can't fill her up, and she's hardy. She's tough as.
"It's only going to be her genetics that stop her (getting 1600m). She is out of an Oratorio mare that didn't win past 1000m - but her dad might be able to help her out there!
"I'm proud of her and my whole team. It's great to get a stakes win for the Cossies (owners the Cosgroves) but it doesn't really mean anything to them because there's no way known they'll sell this filly - they keep all their foals.
"But it's still a rewarding thing to do - we've made a plan and it's worked.”
Playin'it Sweet is a homebred for the aforementioned “Cossies” - WA wheatbelt farmers and hobby breeders Rod and Tania Cosgrove - and they race her with their daughters Jasmine and Georgia.
The Cosgroves purchased her beautifully bred dam Sweet Ora (Oratorio) a decade ago as a $15,000 Perth Magic Millions yearling - and what an astute purchase she turned out to be!
Sweet Ora was bred by renowned WA nursery Geisel Park, whose owner Eddie Rigg chose Mungrup Stud's champion Stravinsky son Oratorio as the ideal mate for his Danehill mare Blondine.
Blondine had won at Caulfield and was already a stakes producer of the Listed Hareeba Stakes winning sprinter La Famelia (Strategic) - her best of five winners - before coming to the west.
La Famelia went on to produce the G2 Reisling Stakes winner French Fern, who has been a successful producer for China Horse Club Racing.
Blondine's dam, Biancaneve, was an unraced daughter of the fantastic broodmare sire Salieri whose bloodline became especially popular in WA due to its affinity with firm ground.
And - she was a three quarter sister to one of the all time great sprinters of the Australian turf, Lee Freedman's unforgettable 8 x G1 winning grey Schillaci!
Apart from Blondine, Biancaneve also produced Granny Apple (Bluebird) who became dam of the top QLD sprinting mare Russeting (Commands) - a G1 winner of the 1400m Tatt's Winter Stakes.
Biancaneve was out of Forina (Vibrant) the G1 Blue Diamond Stakes winning filly of 1974, and a half sister to Schillaci's dam Biscarina by Biscay.
Their dam was the Todman daughter Tobina and here's a clue to the speed of the family - Tobina was bred 5f x5f to the damsire of the great Star Kingdom, Concerto.
This branch of family 13-b goes back to Aspen Leaf (bred 5f x 5f to breedshaping broodmare sire Spearmint) through Madam Jitters ( bred 5f x 4m to Spearmint's sire and Australasian turf immortal Carbine)
That’s some major league genetic firepower back there in the further removes of Playin'it Sweet's pedigree!
Of seven career wins, her dam Sweet Ora's best was a four length demolition job in the WA Carbine Club over1000m at Belmont.
Playin'it Sweet is the final foal and only stakes winner from Sweet Ora who produced only three, all winners.
Their beloved mare was retired from breeding last year by the Cosgroves after missing in three consecutive seasons.
Playin'it Sweet is bred
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m,5m
Danehill 3m x 3f sex balanced
Her tail female double of Star Kingdom's damsire Concerto would be much to Playing God’s liking - as his dam is bred 5m x 4f, 5f to Star Kingdom including his own ancestress Star Empress, and like Sweet Ora, Rubiton descends from a Todman mare.
This pedigree also features sex balanced linebreeding to My Babu, and to the Blue Hen Cos - the ancestress of both Better Boy and Salieri.
This lovely pedigree also features extensive linebreeding to the 3 and 7 families, the former particularly associated with producing exceptional fillies and broodmare sires.
It will be fascinating to see which way connections proceed with the exciting Playin'it Sweet this preparation.
But what a great dilemma to have!
WA’s champion sire Playing God stands at Darling View Thoroughbreds on a fee of $48,500.
