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Savatiano, Cascadian second and third in G1 All Aged Stakes at Randwick

Mike Hedge

A G1 victory slipped from what seemed to be the firm grip of Savatiano as she missed by a nose to repel Kolding in Saturday’s All Aged Stakes at Randwick.

And the narrow defeat was made more painful as Cascadian, himself a G1 winner at his previous start, flashed home to also miss narrowly in third place.

As Savatiano forged to the front with 150m to run, she appeared certain to add the All-Aged to her breakthrough G1 success in last month’s Canterbury Stakes.

The mare, a winner of 13 races and more than $2.5 million, tried her heart out, but in the drive to the line, Kolding put his head down on cue to snatch the narrowest of victories.

As the first two fought it out, Jamie Kah was contemplating a repeat of her G1 Doncaster Mile win of two weeks ago on Cascadian as the pair made ground on the inside and then switched around the heels of the leaders.

In the final 20 metres Cascadian launched himself at the line, only to fall short by a few centimetres.

“It was an amazing run, he was very unlucky,” Kah said.

For Hugh Bowman on Savatiano, the defeat hit hard.

“She’s such a great mare. She does everything right and she never stops trying, I’m disappointed for her,” he said.

The efforts of Savatiano and Cascadian in Sydney’s final G1 of the season completed an autumn that nevertheless produced three G1 wins and eight other Group victories at Rosehill and Randwick during the autumn carnival.

While the totals weren’t added to in Sydney, the 2YO filly Cloudy struck a blow for the royal blue and for her sire Frosted in the G3 Breeders’ Stakes at Morphettville in Adelaide.

The filly scored her third career win and second at Stakes level thanks to a combination of impeccable racing manners and a superb turn-of-foot that she used to her advantage when presented with a dream run at the 200m.

Cloudy dashed through and put a length on her rivals and then fought back well to beat Karacasu by a head.

Winner of the Listed Dequetville stakes at her previous start, she becomes Frosted’s fourth Stakes winner from his first crop to race.

Stable representative Sean Keogh indicated the filly had lived up to all expectations.

"On debut she faced some of the best colts we had around in Melbourne and we've seen what they've gone on and done,” Keogh said.

“We kept her to restricted company to give her some confidence. She put her maiden away in good style and came over here to South Australia and put away a black type race and we felt like she went on from the run.”