Class prevailed in Thursday’s VRC Oaks when Sydney filly Proxima Dea maintained her unbeaten record with an emphatic win in the $1 million Group 1 at Flemington.
The David Payne-trained filly banged a sixth picket in the fence when she carried rising superstar jockey Zac Lloyd to his first Group 1 win in Melbourne in the 2500-metre Classic.
The Oaks win came 12 days after Proxima Dea defeated the boys in the Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) and her veteran trainer said she might be the horse he’s waited his 54-year training career for.
Proxima PERFECT! Proxima Dea keeps her unbeaten record intact and wins the G1 Crown Oaks in fine fashion! 🤩
@ZacLloydx @DPayneRacing @FlemingtonVRC https://t.co/7nkpST9aei
— SKY Racing (@SkyRacingAU) November 5, 2026
“I want to win the Melbourne Cup, so maybe I’ll have to hang in there,” Payne said.
“She’s such a good mover and she doesn’t spend an ounce of energy.
“She’d bred to stay and from day one I said the Oaks and I stuck to it. Maybe I should have gone for the Derby, I don’t know, but she’ll go for a holiday now and she deserves it.
“This is her first prep and she’s won six in a row and two Group Ones.”
Proxima Dea, a daughter of Tarzino and Invisible Coin, which makes her a sister to Queensland Oaks winner Gypsy Goddess, logged her Oaks win 117 days after making a winning debut in a 1400-metre 2YO Handicap at Randwick on July 11.
That was followed with a Class 1 victory over 1600m at Gosford, before 1800m Midway success at Rosehill ahead of her first test at Stakes grade, which produced a win in the Group 3 Gloaming Stakes (1800m) on October 10.
In none of those events did she have as tough a trip as what she had at her Victorian debut.
Lloyd got her out of the second-widest barrier in the field of 16 swiftly, but was kept three-wide for most the trip by rivals who were well aware of the $2.10 favourite’s presence.
Despite the run, Proxima Dea took the lead early in the long Flemington straight and opened up a lead of more than a length, which she extended over the final furlong.
At the line she had 1-3/4 lengths to spare over the fast-finishing Shameful Impulse ($41), who nabbed Saturday’s Wakeful Stakes winner and $3.50 second favourite De Armas at the line to grab second.
Lloyd, who teamed with Victorian trainers Mick Pride and Michael Kent Jr to win this year’s Golden Slipper with Guest House, was thrilled to join with fellow South African Payne to score his breakout win in Melbourne.
“To get a Group 1 in Melbourne (is great), hopefully I can keep on coming back for these carnivals and take a bit of money,” the 23-year-old, who now has eight Group 1s to his name, said.
“We said all along, as long as David was confident, I had nothing to worry about it.
“She’s bred to do it but she might be the best one on the page. That was some performance.”
