Eternal Elixir will be venturing back to Europe after making his well-deserved stakes breakthrough in Italy on Sunday, 29th June.
The three-year-old landed the Listed Premio Estate – Memorial Arturo Brambilla over a mile at the San Siro in Milan under a fine ride by stable jockey Hollie Doyle, who had taken another stakes race on our sprinter Spartan Arrow the previous week.
Despite a slow start, Eternal Elixir was two and a quarter lengths clear of Endo Botti’s runner-up Kabir at the line, supplementing his Group 3 second in Germany on his seasonal re-appearance in April. It was his first win since scoring in a Ffos Las novice back in August.
As well as being full of praise for his jockey, Archie singled out stalls expert Craig Witheford for particular praise. He had done stalls training with the gelded son of Shaman leading up to the race and was in Milan to oversee the loading process down at the start.
“Craig deserves a lot of the credit as he has done so much work in the starting stalls with him,” he says. “Hollie was brilliant and got him in a rhythm off a strong pace on the quick ground before giving him a really strong ride down the straight to get him finishing off well.
“It was fantastic to see Eternal Elixir gaining a much-deserved stakes success having been placed in Listed and Group races. He has finished with a wet sail and been well on top at the end.
“I am so pleased for his owner Salem Rashid Bin Ghadeyer who has been a great supporter of the yard. We will continue to look for similar options later in the year, and we know that he also goes well when there is cut in the ground,” he adds.
Eternal Elixir, a 60,000gns purchase at the Book 2 sale at Tattersalls as a yearling, followed up his novice success as a two-year-old with Listed placings at Haydock Park and Chantilly in France before setting out on this season’s overseas campaign.
By Simon Mapletoft
