Group-winning Australian debut for Soulcombe

Frankel four-year-old Soulcombe kicked-off his Australian career in style winning the Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.

Taken from the ANZ Bloodstock News, 6th November 2022:

The Chris Waller-trained Soulcombe produced a scorching late run to readily take out the Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington. Sent off as the 2-1 favourite under Craig Williams,
the four-year-old gelding, who was sold by his UK owners after an offer from an Ozzie Kheir-run syndicate, made light work of his ten rivals to beat Luncies by two and a quarter lengths with Captain Envious a further neck away in third.

“[Craig] kept it simple. We didn’t change anything from his UK form,” Waller said. “It was good to see him travelling nicely and good to see him coming into the race at the top of the straight. It’s a long straight here at Flemington. Not as long as some of the straights he’s used to back home, but it was good to see him continue to extend. He really was explosive [over] the last 200 metres. It’s all about seeing how he recovers today. Most importantly, he knows how to win at Flemington.”

Soulcombe is the best of three winners to race out of the Group 1-winning Manduro mare Ribbons, who was crowned champion older female in Ireland in 2015. Soulcombe was Frankel's 10th Group winner (12th Stakes winner) from 70 runners in Australia/New Zealand.