Lazzura wins the Coolmore Classic G1
Coolmore Classic G1 winner Lazzura (checked cap, black sleeves) is the 4th Group 1 winner from Arrowfield's Yearling Class of 2023, after Lady Shenandoah, Private Life & Switzerland. (PHOTO: Bronwen Healy)
Lazzura’s classy & tenacious victory, under topweight of 58kg, in Saturday’s $1 million ATC Coolmore Classic 1500m G1 brought up big numbers for everyone connected with her.
She is Arrowfield’s 89th Group 1-winning graduate since the Stud was established by John Messara in 1985, and she’s the 26th individual Group 1 winner by the multiple Champion Sire Snitzel.
Lazzura is the first Group 1 winner for Ricky Surace Snr & Jnr’s B2B Thoroughbreds, already enjoying a wonderful season with recent Group winners Hidrix, Generosity & Panova.
128 Group 1’s to @mcacajamez, as Lazzura reigns supreme in the G1 Coolmore Classic, and @cwallerracing wins his 4th Coolmore in a row! 🤩@B2BThoroughbred pic.twitter.com/50nte5hPUb
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) March 14, 2026
Lazzura’s Coolmore Classic is Group 1 win no. 189 for by champion trainer Chris Waller and his team, and she is the stable’s 4th consecutive winner of the race, after Lady Shenandoah (a fellow Arrowfield graduate), Zougotcha & Espiona. Champion jockey James McDonald has ridden three of them and Lazzura’s maiden Group 1 success is his 128th win at that level – only one short of Damien Oliver’s Australian record.
He happily gave all the credit to Lazzura, saying, “She tries. It wasn’t me, it was her just really biting down on the mouthguard and having a really decent crack. I thought she was all out with 100 metres to go, but just that will to find the line, it’s something you just can’t teach them, you can’t train in them.
“They’ve either just got it and we’re lucky we’ve got a few mares like that. The mares are so good, when the going gets tough, they get going. Super proud of her, super proud for the connections. They put a lot into the game and they deserve the success they get.”
Photos: Georgia Young, Bronwen Healy & Georgie Lomax
Before Saturday, Lazzura had earned battle honours in virtually all of her 14 black type starts, never finishing worse than 5th, and winning twice at Group 2 level, once in Group 3 company and the Listed Woodlands Stakes as a 2YO. Her Group 1 win takes her prizemoney past $1.5 million, a figure she will have the chance to boost further at The Championships, in either the $4 million Doncaster Mile G1 on 4 April or the $1 million Queen of the Turf S. G1 a week later.
Lazzura is the 9th Group 1 winner bred by the Arrowfield-Northern Farm joint venture, and one of three winners so far left by Laguna Azzurra (by Sunday Silence’s son Heart’s Cry), from the family of Japan’s 2024 & 2025 Champion Sire Kizuna and 1994 Horse of the Year Narita Brian. Offered at Magic Millions, Lazzura was a $500,000 purchase for B2B Thoroughbreds and is the 4th graduate Group 1 winner from Arrowfield’s Yearling Class of 2023, after Lady Shenandoah, Private Life & Switzerland.
The Stud’s Inglis Easter 2026 consignment includes Lazzura’s full sister as Lot 383. Laguna Azzura foaled a colt by Farnan last Spring and is now in foal to Switzerland.
