A WA-owned horse could be in line for a start in next year’s Golden Slipper after a striking debut win at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day.
Amelia Park’s Peter Walsh, who raced Group 1 mare Amelia’s Jewel with Rob and Annabel Archibald in the east, entrusted the husband-wife duo with the training of Amelia’s Affair and landed an immediate result in the Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate on Tuesday morning.
Despite starting at $8.50, Amelia’s Affair bolted in by two and three-quarter lengths in the 1000m contest and already has Annabel dreaming big.
“I think the world’s probably her oyster because there’s a lot more improvement to come,” Archibald said.
“She’s just very, very talented. I love the way he just managed to get a few cheap sectionals, and she just skipped away from them.”
Walsh bred Amelia’s Affair from Dance Music, a multiple Group race winner in WA whom he bought in foal to Home Affairs for $500,000 in 2023.
He then sold this filly for $700,000 at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale but kept a majority ownership.
It means she’s eligible for the Magic Millions 2yo at the Gold Coast early next year, though Annabel has already flagged a Golden Slipper start.
“There’s obviously a lot of big two-year-old races. One big two-year-old race in March that we’d love to win as well,” she said, referencing the slipper.
Home Affairs has already sired a winner of that race with Guest House winning the Group 1 earlier this year.
Bunbury-born jockey Damian Lane, continuing the WA flavour, was taken by the performance.
“She had some early toe, and I was able to use that to my advantage and get to exactly where I wanted,” Lane said.
“The professionalism to be able to maintain that at a controlled speed, and then sprint away, was pretty impressive.”
Amelia’s Affair had only one trial before the outing, finishing second at Randwick on October 23.
She will now return to Sydney and be spelled.
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