Monday, 12 November 2018: It takes a special horse to win more than one Group One race – win four and its an exceptional achievement deserving of the highest accolades.

Santa Ana Lane wins the VRC Classic

Santa Ana Lane , a son of the former shuttle sire Lope De Vega, joined that elite group with his fourth G1 success in 13 months at Flemington on Saturday with a victory that elevates him to the top of Australia’s sprint rankings.
Appreciating a return to a firmer surface than he encountered in the rain-affected The Everest at Randwick last month, Santa Ana Lane powered home over the top of his rivals in the last 200m to win the G1 VRC Sprint Classic (1200m) at Flemington over the best sprint field assembled in Australia this year.
In beating the likes of dual Everest winner Redzel and a host of other local and international G1 performers Santa Ana Lane (Lope De Vega x Fast Fleet by Fastnet Rock) became the only sprinter in the world to win four G1 sprints since mid-2017.
The Anthony Freedman-trained [6YO gelding has now won nine of his 31 career starts including the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes (1400m), G1 Goodwood Stakes (1200m) and G1 Stradbroke Handicap (1350m), amassing $3,473,961 in career prizemoney
Bred by Dyson Hore-Lacy and raced by Melbourne-based The William Street Syndicate, Santa Ana Lane  was purchased by Justin Bahen under The Flemington Bloodstock banner for $80,000 from the Rosemount Stud draft at the 2014 Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale.
“That’s four Group 1s in a year basically, it doesn’t get any better than that,’’ Bahen said after Saturday’s victory.
“It’s a tragedy the rain came on Everest Day but today certainly goes a long way to making up for that.’’
Anthony Freedman said more sprint goals awaited Santa Ana Lane in 2019.
“It’s been a great 12 months or so and we’ll put him away now and see what we can do next year,” Freedman said.
Santa Ana Lane is one of 50 stakes winners including six G1 by Lope De Vega, a French Derby winner who shuttled to Patinack Farm for four years from 2011 to 2014.
He now stands at Ballylinch Stud in Ireland.
Santa Ana Lane is the only foal to race from the winning Fastnet Rock mare Fast Fleet, a three-quarter sister to the Macau stakes-placed Strategy (Danehill) and a half-sister to G3 Waikato Guineas winner Blimey O’Reilly (O’Reilly) and Listed winner Flag Officer (Excites).
Santa Ana Lane’s third dam Far Flying (Far North) was a US Listed winner and dam of G3 winner Dalhart (Forty Niner) and Listed winner Rose Frances (Crafty Prospector).
Fast Fleet has a 2YO filly by Kuroshio, a yearling filly by Toorak Toff and was covered by Frosted in September.