Nature Strip has absolutely destroyed his rivals at Royal Ascot, winning the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) by almost five lengths.
The star Australian sprinter was ridden confidently by James McDonald out of barrier 10 and hit the front at the 200m before exploding away and leaving the rest of the field in his wake.
American sprinter Golden Pal was deemed the only serious competitor for Nature Strip, but it was rider-less horse Khaadem which threw down the only real challenge.
🚀🇦🇺 Wow! What a performance from NATURE STRIP!
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 14, 2022
The Australian raider takes the King's Stand Stakes. pic.twitter.com/rZsJs0qdJQ
It was another breathtaking performance from Chris Waller’s superstar short course galloper who has now claimed nine G1s with this by far the biggest of them.
Despite it being a New Zealand trainer-jockey combination of Waller-McDonald, Nature Strip became the first Aussie-trained horse to win at Royal Ascot since Black Caviar in 2012.
McDonald described the seven-year-old son of Nicconi as a “freak of a horse” in the aftermath.
“That was incredible. I am so lucky to be on him. He’s just a freak of a horse,” McDonald told Racing.com.
“I think that he would have silenced a few critics with that performance. That was scintillating.
“I saw the American horse, the big spruik horse, charge through and at the two pole, I thought, 'are you going to come?’ He (Golden Pal) had no response and away he went."
Waller said it was clear his once enigmatic horse is now one of the very the best sprinters in the world.
“Obviously ratings stack up,” Waller added.
“He’s the highest rated sprinter and one of the highest rated horses in the world but until you do it on the main stage it’s another story.
“It will just remind everyone how strong we are in Australia.”
A decision is still to be made if Nature Strip will join stablemate Home Affairs and the Freedman-trained Artorius in the Platinum Jubilee on Sunday.