Silent Achiever In Memorable Mile Win

27 October 2012

O’Reilly’s high-class daughter Silent Achiever showed Australians her quality with her Gr.2 Crystal Mile victory at Moonee Valley today.

The four-year-old gave a strong second-up performance to win over 1600 metres and press her claims for her main aim – the Gr.2 Matriarch Stakes at Flemington during the Cup carnival.

“She had a few things against her with the weight-for-age scale, at Moonee Valley for the first time and the mile is well short of her best,” Cambridge trainer Roger James said. “She’s always been a very classy mare and she ticked all the boxes today.”

Bred and owned by Kevin Hickman, Silente Achiever was awarded the Champion NZ 3YO last season, with her crowning glory coming in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby.

She was ridden today by James McDonald, who brought her from last for a stirring victory. “I’ve never been beaten on her and to beat Rangirangdoo at weight-for-age is great,” he said.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

I keep on proposing my retirement from the burden of a weekly Corner. I make the excuse it is hard to be credible, hard to let the two of you know about anything in our sport that hasn’t been covered before.

27 October 2025

WS-bred On The Lash scores at Sha Tin

Twenty-four hours following the final WS Cox Plate meeting run on the Moonee Valley track of old before it shuts for two years to make way for a new precinct, the race’s 2004 winner, Savabeel, continued his roll of runners, and this time it was via five-year-old On The Lash (ex Candelabra) at Sha Tin.