On Track - Autumn 2021

7 “She’s the best one we’ve had for a long time,” Peters said. Later that year, Arcadia Queen created history by becoming the first filly to win the WA Champion Fillies Stakes-WA Guineas double at Ascot since 1959. At her next start, she etched her name into the record books as the only filly to ever win the Champion Fillies, Guineas and Group 1 Kingston Town Classic with a breathtaking victory by more than four lengths. It prompted sectional times analysts to anoint her the best three-year-old filly in the nation at the time. It also led to her transfer to the Sydney stables of champion trainer Chris Waller the following spring and a crack at The Everest. However, Arcadia Queen finished near the tail of the field and then copped significant interference at her next start in the Golden Eagle. “I think she ran well in the Golden Eagle when you consider she was knocked over and had to get up,” Peters said. “Unfortunately, the adrenalin kicked in and that’s when she tore muscles over her back. “She also had feet problems when we sent her out to spell.” A lengthy rehabilitation program followed, with no guarantees she would make it back to the track. But after recovering from her injuries, Arcadia Queen returned for a shot at the 2020 Melbourne Spring Carnival. Despite hoof bruising curtailing the start of her campaign, she proved her quality with Group 1 wins in the Caulfield Stakes and Mackinnon Stakes, with a brave fifth in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate in between. Her Ladbrokes Cox Plate run, in which she stumbled and almost fell in the middle stages of the race, proved she could handle The Valley in the eyes of Peters. Grant Williams, who trains Arcadia Queen in partnership with her wife Alana, shares the same view. “The Cox Plate was a great run,” Grant Williams said. “The luck wasn’t with us on the day. She’s had a couple of track gallops at The Valley and a race now, so I think any track isn’t really going to bother her.” Returning to Melbourne for an autumn campaign, Arcadia Queen warmed up for the All-Star Mile with a fast-finishing second to Probabeel in the Futurity Stakes. “That’s what we wanted, and she should improve in the All-Star Mile,” Peters said. “She’s had no problems this campaign so we’re hopeful.” It could well be two All-Star Miles in a row for the powerful team of Peters, the Williams’ and champion jockey William Pike. They might also have some unfinished business in the Ladbrokes Cox Plate at The Valley next spring, too. Jay Rooney heads The West Australian’s racing reporting team. Aracadia Queen winning the Group 1 Mckinnon Stakes in November 2020