PHILIA AIMING AT GROUP 1 GLORY IN THE QLD OAKS

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Trainer David Vandyke seldom gets ahead of himself or creates exaggerated expectations of his runners, but his admiration for the Philia is not hard to see.
And why not!

Philia is a four-time winner from six starts … with all of those wins coming in a rousing, unbeaten winning sequence since she resumed from a four month spell back on February 26 … a sequence which took her from her Maiden win … to a win in a Three-Year-Old Handicap … to a Listed win in the Princess Stakes and on to a Group 2 win in The Roses, while also raising the distance test from 1350m to 2000m.

That is as solid a grounding as Philia could get for her next target, the Group 1 Queensland Oaks at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

Vandyke has won the Queensland Oaks before, back in 2022, with his then stable star Gypsy Goddess.

Gypsy Goddess kicked off her career a full eight months prior to her Oaks run. The same gap from debut to Oaks run applies to Philia, but Gypsy Goddess was more forward and was given a tougher workload than Philia with Vandyke taken an aggressive approach to the Queensland Oaks with the daughter of Tarzino.

Gypsey Goddess was unbeaten in her first five starts all the way up to Group 3 company (winning the Grand Prix). That left Vandyke with no fear in terms of stepping Gypsy Goddess up to the elite level … and travelling the horse … and, while she did not win in her two, testing ‘away’ games, her results there … a third place in the Group 1 Vinery and a second place in the Group 1 ATC Oaks … did much to highlight her Group 1 credentials prior to her saluting at that level.

A runner-up finish back home in Listed Bracelet at the Gold Coast was just the final polish up Gypsy Goddess needed to be able to shine so brightly in the Queensland Oaks spotlight, where she duly put the Group 1 win behind her name in her ninth career start.

The Queensland Oaks will be Philia’s seventh career start. She has got there in less runs than Gypsy Goddess and has taken a vastly different route, rising in grade well enough and taking every hurdle in her stride, but without having any exposure to Group 1 company, as yet.

For all of that, Philia’s impressive win in the Group 2 The Roses clearly indicated she is worthy of being set a Group 1 assignment and when Vandyke told Racenet, “I think you will see the best of her on Saturday,” you have to recognise that as being as glowing an assessment as you are ever going to get from a trainer who is not prone to fanfare.

The form is there. The breeding is there (Philia is a half-sister to the 2021 Queensland Oaks winner Duais) … the precise, measured step-by-step planning of a perfectionist has ben carried out according to the gameplan … and Kerrin McEvoy, who rode Philia in The Roses stays on board, adding a massive vote of confidence to proceedings.

Clearly, all things being equal between now and Saturday, Philia is ready to launch.

It might be a case of ‘Been there … done that’ for Vandyke, but there is no doubt a second victory in the Queensland Oaks will be every bit as satisfying to Vandyke as the day that Gypsy Goddess earned her Group 1 stripes.

And, of course, the Queensland crowd will celebrate with him if that happens as they would once again raise the ‘Queenslander’ war cry as they cheer their second Group 1 win of the carnival after Antino trounced his opposition in the Doomben Cup.

More articles