It was a ding-dong battle down the straight at Royal Randwick as Passive Aggressive got the verdict in a grandstand finish of the Group 2 Challenge Stakes.
Trained by Graeme Begg and steered by jockey Jordan Childs for his only ride of the day on Saturday, the first-up mare produced an electric turn-of-foot to storm to line in a photo finish with multiple Challenge Stakes winner, Eduardo.
It was the affectionately known ‘Special Eddy' Eduardo who lead them up as the firming favourite looking for his third success in the race for trainer Joseph Pride and the nine-year-old almost pinched the race turning for home.
Passive Aggressive under a terrific ride from Jordan Childs stalked the speed and came across from the wide draw, timing his run to perfection.
Drifting market elect Giga Kick ($4.60) lost no admirers on return though, missing the start significantly and produced an enormous first-up effort running into third, setting up more intrigue for the Group 1 TJ Smith Stakes moving forward.
2023 Group 2 Challenge Stakes – Passive Aggressive
The mare out of Fastnet Rock proved too strong in the end though, making it now a career record of six starts for five wins.
Graeme Begg spoke post-race and was delighted with the return of his mare after a 189-day spell, setting course on a Group 1 Galaxy and possibly a TJ Smith Stakes tilt.
“I thought she won on the line, but I know coming to Randwick, rail out 6m, outside horses normally get the bob in,” said Begg.
“Great effort because she hasn't run for six months. She's a bloody good filly.
“She's a very understated mare. It's only her sixth start in a race to go to a Group 2 weight for age against very good accomplished horses. Great effort
“There's a couple of races. There's obviously the Galaxy, hopefully the TJ Smith maybe in a month's time so we'll work it out from here. But we'll look after the horse and get her home and let the dust settle and make a plan.”
Jockey Jordan Childs spoke post-race as well and was very relived to see he got the nod in the photo finish.
“I wasn't too sure. About the 100m I was a bit confident and then Eduardo ended up coming back, I'm just glad we held on,” said Childs.
“She's a nice horse that does everything right, gets herself in a nice rhythm. She's got a very high cruising speed and she can also find off that.”
Passive Aggressive is now a $5 equal favourite with online betting sites for The Galaxy.