Champion Pilot (USA)

Black-type success has always seemed to be a matter of when and not if for highly talented Almanzor (Fr) mare Mary Shan, but few would have expected it to come at the expense of a $1.50 favourite and reigning New Zealand Horse of the Year.

Saddling up a pair of unraced juveniles in Saturday’s $175,000 Listed MRC Magic Millions Merson Cooper Stakes (1000m) at Caulfield, it was Lloyd Kennewell’s colt Eternal Warrior that took the prize at big odds, and in the process handed Rosemont Stud’s Extreme Warrior his first stakes winner.