Archaic Smile Hits $500,000 With Stewards’ Stakes Success

Less than four years after being purchased for $55,000 at Karaka, Archaic Smile (Saxon Warrior) took her career earnings past $500,000 with her third black-type success in Saturday’s $140,000 Listed Lindauer Stewards’ Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton.

Offered by Woburn Farm in Book 1 of Karaka 2023, Archaic Smile was bought by her owner Masa Otani. She has now raced 24 times for six wins, five placings and $531,075 in stakes.

Archaic Smile wasted little time in showing her quality on the racetrack, winning the Listed Wellesley Stakes (1100m) as a two-year-old before running second in the Group One Sistema Stakes (1200m) and fourth in the Group One Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m).

Over the next two seasons, she finished fifth in the Group Three Gold Trail Stakes (1200m), second in the Group Two Wellington Guineas (1400m), second in the Group Three Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), fifth in the Group Three Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes (1400m), fourth in the Group Three TAB Mile (1600m) and fourth in the Group Three Cuddle Stakes (1600m) before breaking through for a second stakes win in the Listed Flying Handicap (1400m) last March.

The Stewards’ Stakes was Archaic Smile’s first start since that race, with almost an eight-month gap in between. The Hollie Elliot-trained mare was reunited on Saturday with jockey Masa Hashizume, who was also in the saddle in the Flying Handicap.

The pair jumped from gate two and soon took up a handy position along the rail. While the rest of the field came wide in search of what they believed to be better ground, Hashizume hugged the fence and slid through the inside. By the time she came into the home straight, she had dashed into a clear lead.

Archaic Smile kept going strongly all the way to the finish line, holding out the late finish of multiple black-type winner Platinum Attack (Santos) by a length and a quarter.

“That was awesome,” Elliot said. “We talked before the race and he (Hashizume) said he had walked the track and thought the fence was good. I said if we have one Achilles heel today it is race fitness, so we decided to take the shortest way home.

“She is a mare with so much ability, and although we’ve have tried to stretch her out to a mile, we are now going to keep her to the sprint trips. She seems to love it.

“Mr Otani (owner) is a great guy, and he was thinking of putting her to stud this year, but I suggested giving her a really good spell, because she’d never really had one. It was really hard to get the weight off her, because she did so well, but I’m glad we waited. She’s never been a spring horse. She needs the good tracks.

“She knows the drill and she came here and owned it.”

Hashizume was pleased he had the horse underneath him to pull off the ground-saving run.

“I didn’t have a ride in the last three races, and I was lucky enough to walk the track and saw that the inside was okay,” he said.

“I wished I had cover, but everyone came off the fence. I did think about following them, but I had decided to stay against the rail and hope she was up to it, and she was.

“Hollie decided to bring her here fresh, so it was a massive effort.”

A half-sister to Archaic Smile by Ghaiyyath was offered by Curraghmore in Book 1 of Karaka 2026 last January and was bought by the China Horse Club for $375,000.

Vendor	Woburn Farm
Purchaser	Mr M Otani (Singapore)
Breeding	Saxon Warrior – On The Ball
Sale	Lot 393, Karaka 2023 Book 1, $55,000
Breeder	Mr RA Emery
Owner	M Otani