Prophet’s Thumb Breaks Redzel Randwick Track Record

Date: March 11, 2019

Prophet’s Thumb made history in winning the Listed Fireball Stakes (1100m) at Randwick on Saturday.

The David Pfieffer-trained three-year-old filly settled towards the tail of the field but was aided by a brilliant ride from Jason Collett to cut a swathe through the field closer to the inside and storm into contention.

Prophet’s Thumb hit the front 100m out before withstanding a late challenge form the Kris Lees-trained Trope, who found the line strongly.

However, it wasn’t the nature of the win that caught the eye as much as the jaw-dropping time, 1:01.67, which lowered the previous track record held by dual Everest winner Redzel.

Prophet’s Thumb is building a nice record having won four from seven but prior to Saturday’s Listed win her biggest success had come in BM64 grade at Gosford.

Collett said post-race: “She reeled off some very good sectionals last time at Rosehill and again today, she’s run very quick.

“She’s still got a bit of maturing to do, she’s quite temperamental, but she’s got a stack of ability.”

Pfieffer was delighted with that he saw from his filly.

“What an amazing win, she had a bit of work to do in the straight and got off a few heels, but (that) was very explosive, it’s very exciting,” he said.

“She’s always shown a lot of promise this filly, for her to come here and do it in a Stakes race makes it more special.”

Pfieffer mentioned the Darby Munro Stakes at Randwick might be a target race, one he was able to win in 2018 with I Am Excited, who also claimed the Fireball Stakes.