$500,000 Widden Purchase Coeur Volante (NZ) Looking Good

Classy mare Coeur Volante landed her third straight victory at Caulfield on Saturday, heading a quinella for Lindsay Park trainers Ben, Will and JD Hayes in the A$150,000 Sportsbet Fixed Odds Exotics Handicap (1600m).

Coeur Volante has had a change of ownership this season, having been bought by Anthony Thompson’s Widden Stud Australia Pty Limited and Julia Ritchie’s Bangaloe Stud for $500,000 from the 2025 Spring Boutique Online Sale on Inglis Digital in November.

The New Zealand-bred daughter of Proisir previously raced for a syndicate headed by Rupert Legh. She won four races for that group including the Gr.2 Thousand Guineas Prelude (1400m), Gr.3 Scarborough Stakes (1200m) and Gr.3 Mannerism Stakes (1400m), not to mention a fourth in the Gr.1 Thousand Guineas (1600m).

Left in the Lindsay Park stable by her new connections, Coeur Volante has breathed new life into her racing career. She resumed with a third in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes (1100m) on May 30, then put together back-to-back wins at Sandown on June 13 and Caulfield on June 27.

Those performances brought a rise in weight on Saturday to 60.5kg, dropping to 58.5kg with Jackson Radley’s claim, but Coeur Volante carried on her winning way.

“She’s a ripper and was very good again today,” Radley said. “She raced a little bit keener today, but we were able to find a bit of cover, which helped. She did very well to put them away with a bit more weight on her back.”

Coeur Volante has now had 20 starts for seven wins, a placing and $842,540 in stakes with $263,250 of that amount coming since her new connections bought her eight months ago.

“She’s been unbelievable in this preparation,” Will Hayes said. “To win three in a row is so good for Julia and Anthony. It’s so pleasing to see her reward them for buying her and putting her back into training.

“The order she’s in, hopefully she might be able to carry on and strike in the early spring. Depending on how she is, a race like the PB Lawrence Stakes (Gr.2, 1400m) is definitely worth considering.

“With Rise At Dawn finishing second, it was a pretty amazing race for the stable and a pleasure to watch. Well done to all of the team at home.”