by Myra Lewyn

A week after posting a 26.70-to-1 upset in the Conrad Treasury Queensland Oak (Aus-G1), Riva San returned to Eagle Farm racecourse on Saturday and emphatically trounced males in the BMW Queensland Derby (Aus-G1).

The Any Given Sunday filly won by two lengths and covered the 2,400 meters (11.93 furlongs) in 2:36.98 while becoming only the fourth filly in 35 years to complete the Oaks/Derby double.

Trained by Peter Moody, Riva San raced well off the early pace, then angled out for the stretch run. With Jim Byrne at the reins, the dark brown or black filly willingly quickened and easily powered through the soft turf in an energetic sprint to the finish line.

Petushki finished second with Moatize another 1¼ lengths back in third. 
 
Riva San earned her first stakes victory in the Lindsay Park Morphettville Guineas in September and finished second by a head on November 3 in the Longines Wakeful Stakes (Aus-G2). She finished third in a stakes race at Gold Coast on May 3 and finished ninth to Heavenly Glow in the Hidden Dragon Doormen Roses (Aus-G3) on May 17, but turned the tables on that foe in the Queensland Oaks, which she won by a neck.

Moody, who was in England preparing Group 1-winning sprinter Magnus for another crack at the King’s Stand Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot, was pleased with Riva San’s victory. He tentatively has plotted an ambitious campaign for the filly later this year that includes the Caulfield Cup (Aus-G1) and Melbourne Cup (Aus-G1).

“She’s one of the toughest horses I’ve trained.  …I thought the Oaks was a stronger race and when she did so well during the week, I was confident she could win the [Derby],” Moody told the Australian Associated Press.

Australian-bred Riva San is out of the Best Western mare Best River.

One race later at Eagle Farm, 18-year-old apprentice jockey Sebastian Murphy and longshot Mr Baritone landed the most lucrative victories of their careers when the six-year-old Stravinsky gelding narrowly prevailed in a rousing three-horse finish in $962,700 AAMI Stradbroke Handicap (Aus-G1).

“I couldn’t be happier,” Murphy told The Age after the race. “But I was very pleased to see the finish line.”

Mr Baritone gamely held back Group 3 winner Hard To Catch by a head while stakes winner Double Dare finished another head back in third.

Mr Baritone won for the first time since capturing an open handicap at Moonee Valley on March 29, and finished the 1,400 meter (6.96- furlong) Stradbroke in 1:26.49.

Trained by Michael Moroney, Mr Baritone entered off a third-place finish in the Myer Sir Edward Williams Handicap at Eagle Farm on May 31. A New Zealand-bred, he is out of the Sanglamore mare Tunisia.

Myra Lewyn is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor