THE BIRCHLEY STABLE LANDS ANOTHER 2YO FEATURE

By Graham Potter | Sunday, April 12, 2026

The one day delay of the Rockhampton meeting was always going to be a worthwhile wait for somebody … and, as far as the featured $150 000 Capricornia Yearling Sale Classic QTIS 2YO Plate was concerned, the chances were that the result was going to come down in favour of the Liam Birchley trained Swift Dragon.

And that it did … with Swift Dragon scoring by a 3.23 length winning margin to claim his third career success, and second feature race win, from only six starts.

Jockey Ryan Wiggins, who has partnered Swift Dragon in all of his starts, let the early speed go, racing some four lengths back in the first half of the race, but he quickly pushed the Birchley trained runner closer to the action in the sweep to the home turn to be sitting just two lengths off the leading pair, Wasabi Barbie and Better Blitzem, who had matched strides for most of the race at the head of affairs up until that stage, and just a length behind Coal Seam, who raced in third place.

That left Swift Dragon perfectly poised to strike at the top of home straight with its long 600m run-in, with Wiggins appearing to have a handful of horse at his disposal.

When Better Blitzem dropped Wasabi Barbie at the 400m mark and looked like he might kick on, Wiggins gave Swift Dragon his head and the son of Dracarys responded on cue and began to lay down his challenge in earnest.

Better Blitzem, who had used plenty of fuel when spearing across from his wide barrier draw at the break before sharing the lead at a brisk gallop, initially resisted the challenge of Swift Dragon, but, with 300m left to run, that had become an uneven battle as Swift Dragon proceeded to stamp his authority on proceedings, pulling away to win as he liked from Better Blitzem and Coal Seam.

Swift Dragon’s starting price of $1.35 accurately reflected the superior form-line the chestnut gelding brought into the race … which included two notable wins from his previous five starts.

He had won on debut at Rockhampton and saluted in impressive style in the $500 000 AQUIS QTIS Jewel 2YO at the Gold Coast. He had also finished third in the Pat O’Shea Plate at Toowoomba … which was in his last start where, although the result didn’t go his way, it did help fine tune him for this important Rockhampton assignment.

The second placed Better Blitzem was the only runner bar the winner to have jumped at a starting price below $18. He started a clear second favourite at $4.40. Coal Seam was an $18 chance.