Racing
Campione D’Italia wins Group 2 Catanach’s Jewellers Skyline Stakes: Post Race Trainer and Jockey Quotes
Trainer and jockey quotes following the Group 2 Catanach’s Jewellers Skyline Stakes won by Campione D’Italia at Randwick on Saturday.
Race Result:1st: Campione D'Italia (C Waller/T Berry) - $412nd: Central Europe (C Waller/J Collett) - $11
3rd: Star Of Jamaica (C&C Munce/Z Lloyd) - $21
Winning Time: 1:10.09 Last 600m: 34.99
Margins: Nose x Long Head
Campione D'Italia spoils the party at $41 odds to win the Skyline Stakes for @cwallerracing with @TommyBerry21 on board! pic.twitter.com/kWolvspHn8
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) February 28, 2026
Winning Trainer: Chris Waller
On the horse: "He's always shown promise, and hence the reason why we've thrown him in the deep end. In his first start and again here today, we haven't backed off when he did a lot wrong. We stuck to our guns, went back to the trials. Good team of track riders at home, just been working on getting him to relax. He's a kind horse, but he's just so competitive. So when those barriers open, he wants to get to the bend first and we've got to teach him to get to the winning post first. We're getting there."
"The beauty of the Golden Slipper is there's going to be speed, well you'd expect there will be speed, so I don't think you'll get a chance to over-race in a Golden Slipper."
On three weeks to the Slipper being perfect: "I think so, we'll have a good think about it. But I would say so. He's already had a little bit of racing. We've got to respect him beyond a Golden Slipper too."
On the runner-up Central Europe: "He was awesome. He did a few little things wrong, and that's the negative about running in these big races first-up. Their little problems get highlighted, exaggerated. He was a bit fresh the first 200 or 300 metres of the race. He was trying to shoulder Campione D'italia out and he wouldn't budge. There was a little bit of argy-bargy there, but it didn't knock him off his game, and gee, he was strong late.
"He'll run on the Pago Pago in two weeks' time and he'll go to the Golden Slipper or the Sires' Produce."
Winning Jockey: Tommy Berry
On the horse: "He's by far not yet the finished product, but that says a lot for his ability. Chris and the team have been very vocal about how much they like this guy for a long time now, but he still just doesn't adjust very well to the way races are run."
"When the pace steadies, he wants to grab hold of the bridle, and he obviously doesn't know how to put him away yet. When he figures it all out, they're going to have a lot of fun with him."
Beaten Jockeys:
James McDonald (Fireball): "He was really good. He's on track for the Slipper."
Tim Clark (Knightsbridge): "He had a lovely run in behind them. Was a bit interfered with at the top of the straight. Didn't run on after that."
Zac Lloyd (Star Of Jamaica): "Was a better performance from him today. Just not executing his races. It's a credit to him to get that close even though he is not really nailing the one per cents."
Rachel King (Warwoven): "Really happy with him. He slipped pretty badly out of the gates which wasn't ideal. Both back legs went from underneath him. He kept finding well. Will take plenty of improvement from the run."
Adam Hyeronimus (Plagiarism): "He has run really well. He's a nice 2yo but I think seven furlongs will suit him a lot better."
Nash Rawiller (High Alert): "He is a nice colt. He went today like he will appreciate 1400m."
Jason Collett (Central Europe): "Very unlucky. Winner was going as good as me on straightening, held me in, we got out late and was strong through the line."
Tom Sherry (Spring Ruler): "Just not ready yet."
Craig Williams (Zensen): "He got it horribly wrong at his first start."
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