Chad Schofield rode Ceolwulf to victory. It cost him $35,000 and a ban

On a day laid out for champions, even the greats can fall.

Before grand campaigner Via Sistina soared above the damp and cold of Flemington to win the $3 million Champions Stakes, heavyweights Mr Brightside and Pride Of Jenni were knocked to the canvas.

The pair had been floored by Father Time and Saturday’s big wet in the $3 million Champions Mile.

The Flemington track was downgraded to heavy an hour before their clash, and it sucked the vigour out of their ageing legs – eight-year-old Mr Brightside finished fifth, 11 lengths behind eventual winner Ceolwulf, while eight-year-old Pride Of Jenni was another seven lengths back in eighth.

“It’s a shame,” Mr Brightside’s jockey Craig Williams said. “He wanted to hang out throughout the race, so he definitely wasn’t at his best. Most importantly, he’s come through the race OK.”

Declan Bates said Pride Of Jenni hated the heavy track after she blitzed a group 1 field on a good surface in last Saturday’s Empire Rose Stakes.

“She was sort of dipping and diving underneath me, and I just wasn’t able to use that stride to get away. Just purely simply hated the ground,” he said.

The last-horse-standing affair came down to a neck-and-neck battle as expected, but not between the fancied pair.

The Champions Mile was won by a new contender to the crown in Ceolwulf. But he did not have it all his own way.

The exciting Joseph Pride-trained gelding fought a pulsating duel with Bjorn Baker’s Pericles before edging ahead by a nose. Another Sydneysider, Steffi Magnetica, finished third.

But the win came at a high cost for Ceolwulf’s jockey Chad Schofield, who was fined $35,000 by stewards for breaching the whip rule, and suspended for 11 meetings for careless riding 200 metres from the finishing post.

The fine will take a sizeable chunk out of his $90,000 share of the prize money.

After the race, Pride said he was now considering aiming Ceolwulf at the top.

“I’d love to be back here for the Cox Plate,” he said. “Whether or not he is as good at 2000 as he is at a mile, we’ll find out in the autumn [and] probably in the Queen Elizabeth. Great way to finish the year.”

Whether Ceolwulf gets to trade blows with Via Sistina next year when the Cox Plate relocates to Flemington remains to be seen, but Waller continued to marvel at his champion mare.

She has now chalked up 12 group 1 victories in her career.

“She was tough today,” Waller said of Via Sistina’s three-length win. “She went back from the draw, James didn’t panic, and it was awesome to see her in the straight.”

Waller also sang the praises of McDonald after the formidable pair registered their 50th group 1 triumph together. Not bad for two dairy farmers’ sons from New Zealand.

“It is an honour to be working with him,” Waller said. “There’s no pressure, no pre-race stress, and I didn’t even give any instructions.”

“He said, ‘I’ll go and ride her like Hughie [Bowman] used to ride Winx’, best horse in the race, give her some clean air, and I said, ‘That sounds good to me’,” Waller continued.

“There’s less pressure when you trust each other. I’d go to war with him, and he’d do the same for me.”

Waller and McDonald have closed within four of the Australian record held by Gai Waterhouse’s late father Tommy Smith and the late jockey George Moore.

“We work wonderfully together, and he’s an absolute genius. I can’t put into words how good he is,” McDonald said of Waller.

“We’re not far off one of the greatest combinations in racing history. That’s something to aim up at.”

Grand campaigner Giga Kick lifted himself off the canvas to win the $3 million 1200m Champions Sprint in another slugfest that went the distance. He won by a nose from Magic Time.

“He just fronts up,” an elated trainer Clayton Douglas said. “He missed 12 months with an injury. He’s done a tremendous job to get back to group 1 level, and I will be forever grateful for him.

“He’s a champ this horse and I love him. It’s actually my first Melbourne group 1, which is really special as well.”

Zahra said he felt like the Grahame Begg-trained Magic Time was going to hold him out in the race to the line.

“But his last 50 [metres], he had a proper crack the old boy and got his head out at the right time,” Zahra said.

The win lifted six-year-old Giga Kick’s career prize money to $14.3 million, a figure inflated by his victory in the Everest in 2022.

The win also took Zahra’s Cup carnival tally to eight, including two group 1s on Derby Day.

“It’s been a massive week, and hopefully, there’s a nice bottle of champagne there for me now,” Zahra said.

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