International super-star sire More Than Ready got his 18th Grade/Group 1 winner in Australia on Saturday when 2-year-old Prized Icon captured the $500,000 (AUS$) Champagne S. (G1) at Randwick Racecourse.
With El Sicario running loose on the lead through the first half-mile, Prized Icon led the rest of the pack sitting in second. The front-runner began to back up with three furlongs to run, and Prized Icon took over coming into the stretch, holding off all challengers in the lane to win by a length in 1:36.85 for the 1,600 meters.
“He was dominant. He was really, really strong,” winning jockey Glyn Schofield said. “He was in front a long way from home, wandering left and right, he was basically waiting for something to join him and when it did he raced more true.”
“(Prized Icon) has had a great week,” added trainer James Cummings. “We have barely done anything with him, just plenty of long slow work and he has loved it, he has rewarded us and it’s great to get that Group 1 winner for (breeder/owner) Gooree and another Group 1 winner for More Than Ready–what a stallion.”
Prized Icon, out of the stakes-winning Australian mare Tropical Affair, is a full brother to group stakes winner Romantic Moon.
More Than Ready is the sire of five Graded or Group winners in 2016 alone and has 157 lifetime black type winners.
