Darley shuttler Dawn Approach (IRE) may have found the big horse he has been searching for with the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott-trained colt Dawn Passage who made an auspicious debut over 1000 metres at Randwick on Australia Day.
The stable was also represented by the better fancied Espaaniyah but when the Inglis Banner winner began to retreat, Dawn Passage was just warming up for Blake Shinn to credit the popular jockey with the perfect welcome back after a long time on the sidelines due to a serious neck injury.
Settled back worse than midfield, Dawn Passage displayed a brilliant turn of foot when balanced up in the straight to win running away by three and a quarter lengths from Starspangledbanner's half-brother Aussie (Snitzel) with Bivouac (Exceed And Excel) back in third. (photos Steve Hart )
"He is a lovely colt," Waterhouse told AAP.
"There are a lot of first-time owners in him and they will have a lot of fun.
"This would only happen in Australia. It's a great country we live in."
After spending months in a neck brace, Blake Shinn said he felt blessed to be back riding.
"It's been a long road back. I've done a lot of work and I've had a lot of support," he said
"I believe in fate and it was like I had someone riding with me.
Another of the hallowed grounds of Mill Park Stud, Dawn Passage was purchased by A Bott / G Waterhouse / Blue Sky Bloodstock for $150,000 at the 2018 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
A half-brother to the Group III SAJC Jansz Stakes winner Dinkum Diamond (Keep The Faith), Dawn Passage is the eighth foal and the sixth winner for the now pensioned Raja Lane.
The daughter of Devaraja was a crack racemare earning over $428,000 with seven wins highlighted by the Group III SAJC Dermody Stakes.
Her final foal is a yearling colt by Rebel Raider.
Four-time Group 1 winner Dawn Approach (IRE) clocked in as the sixth leading first-crop sire last season with several promising types, but he attracted just 36 mares last spring and in this cutthroat world his future south of the equator may well depend on the likes of Dawn Passage earning black-type.
