2019 Cantala Stakes Results: Fierce Impact Now a Two-Time Group 1 Winner

Fierce Impact is now a back-to-back Group 1 winner after claiming the Kennedy Cantala Stakes (1600m) at Flemington on Saturday.

Three weeks removed from a comfortable Toorak Handicap win, the Japanese import dazzled once again by beating home a tightly packed field down the straight. It came down to nothing more than a head bob, but it was enough to gift Fierce Impact a win over a field of proven milers.

Streets Of Avalon led from the gates before last week’s Crystal Mile winner Chief Ironside took over at the final turn. Jockey Craig Williams got in behind them before moving up on the outside of Fifty Stars to hit the line strongly.

Fierce Impact (yellow cap) savaged the line at Flemington on Saturday to claim the Group 1 Cantala Stakes. Photo Credit: Steve Hart.

Punters on board the $8.00 chance were left cheering, but there were plenty of question marks heading into the race. The soft track threw a spanner into the works, but with form on his side and Williams in the saddle, it all turned into a winning combination.

“When he went to the gates it felt like the track really deteriorated. In the race he was good, he got a little bit cheeky today and I was just mindful” Williams said after the race.

Williams took over from Nash Rawiller ahead of the Toorak and retained the ride. He said after the race he spoke to former jockey Corey Brown about the ideal strategy on Saturday.

“The other day I didn’t have my persuader with me and today I was very reluctant about doing certain things with him. Corey Brown, who was his rider before his injury, spoke to me a little bit about the horse, but wow, good, gallant, tough, today was a cracking race and it was really good competition, so to come out on top I was really proud of my horse.”

Fierce Impact is the sixth horse to complete the Toorak Handicap-Cantala Stakes double and the first to do so since Magari in 1982. The win was particularly special for trainer Matthew Smith, who touched on the journey leading up to this point.

“It’s been a bit of a long journey with him, it’s taken us a while to get to this stage with him in this preparation

“I was concerned. I was pretty happy at the 100m but I was a little bit concerned at the 50m, I thought he might get run down” Smith went on to say.

Fifty Stars was unlucky not to win but still finished strongly for second.

2019 Kennedy Cantala Stakes Results & Finishing Order

Place	#	Horse	Trainer	Jockey	Margin	Barrier	Weight	SP
1	6	FIERCE IMPACT (JPN)	Matthew Smith	Craig Williams	–	14	56kg	$8
2	3	FIFTY STARS (IRE)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Mark Zahra	0.1L	3	56.5kg	$10
3	12	CASCADIAN (GB)	James Cummings	Dean Yendall	0.3L	16	53.5kg	$12
4	9	SO SI BON	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Luke Nolen	1.55L	12	55.5kg	$31
5	1	BEST OF DAYS (GB)	James Cummings	James Doyle	3.3L	11	57kg	$26
6	8	NIGHT’S WATCH (NZ)	Chris Waller	Damien Oliver	3.4L	7	55.5kg	$7EF
7	4	LIFE LESS ORDINARY (IRE)	Chris Waller	Hugh Bowman	4.15L	15	56.5kg	$21
8	10	STREETS OF AVALON	Shane Nichols	Zac Spain	4.9L	8	55.5kg	$61
9	14	STAR OF THE SEAS (NZ)	Chris Waller	Michael Walker	5.1L	4	53.5kg (cd 54kg)	$7EF
10	11	SIKANDARABAD (IRE)	David & B Hayes & T Dabernig	Jye McNeil	5.3L	9	54.5kg	$21
11	16	MAHAMEDEIS	Nick Ryan	Brett Prebble	5.6L	5	53kg	$21
12	13	ROCK	Michael, Wayne & John Hawkes	Tim Clark	6.85L	10	53.5kg	$10
13	2	LAND OF PLENTY	Peter & Paul Snowden	Ben Allen	10.1L	1	57kg	$41
14	7	CLIFF’S EDGE	Ciaron Maher & David Eustace	John Allen	22.1L	2	55.5kg	$21
15	15	CHIEF IRONSIDE (GB)	David Menuisier	Stephen Baster	22.3L	6	53kg	$14
16	5	ROYAL MEETING (IRE)	Saeed Bin Suroor	Dwayne Dunn	25.05L	13	56.5kg	$12
–	19e	VARIATION	Stephen Miller	–	–	0	–	–
–	20e	ICONOCLASM	Danny O’Brien	Stephen Baster	–	0	–	–
–	17e	NOIRE	Chris Waller	Craig Newitt	–	0	–	–
–	18e	ADMIRAL’S JOKER	Kylie Vella	Ben Thompson	–	0	–	–