Fierce Impact enjoyed a trouble-free run to win Saturday’s Gr1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington.
In a race marred by a fatal mid-race injury to last year’s winner Gatting, Fierce Impact was settled behind the early speed by Mark Zahra and was able to come through between horses early in the straight and then hold out Russian Camelot by a short-head to register a third win at the highest level. (pic: Racing Pictures/Natasha Morello)
Fierce Impact’s trainer Matthew Smith told Racingdotcom the ride won the race for the seven-year-old entire son of Deep Impact.
“He was super. For a small stable like ours to have a horse like that, it’s fantastic. He’s the type of horse that always just does enough,” Smith said.
“Russian Camelot got the jump on us a bit but given that he’s a horse that only does as much as he has to, it was better that he had something to chase.
“Mark (Zahra) rode him perfectly, judged it perfectly and we couldn’t be happier. These races are so hard to win. You can make all the plans, have the horse ready, draw a good barrier but it all still needs to work out.
“Russian Camelot is a serious horse, too. To fend him off was something.”
Danny O’Brien was far from disappointed with the first-up effort from Russian Camelot.
“He was beaten by a top-class miler, who’s a three-time Group 1 winner at a mile now and he’s been beaten a neck, so for a first-up performance for the spring, I don’t think we could ask for much more,” O’Brien said.
“Without winning, he really couldn’t have gone any better.
“There wasn’t much speed and I don’t think Damien (Oliver) could have ridden him differently, he did the right thing to worry about the horse and how he was travelling rather than trying to get some cover.