THE BELLE OF BENDIGO
Given the incredible batch of three-year-olds this season, the first black type win of the smart filly Gold Coast Belle at Bendigo on Saturday was a significant moment for connections as they look ahead to next season.
Gold Coast Belle turned in a brilliant run after being forced to race three-wide, running the 1400 metres of the listed Bendigo Guineas in a blistering 1.21.52s to claim black type ahead of what shapes as a four-year-old season like few others.
“There are a lot of classy fillies turning into four-year-olds mares in the spring such as our fillies Getta Good Feeling and Sass Appeal and then there’s Sheza Albi and Charlotte’s (Littlefield) horse (Concord Connie) looks a real type and then you go to open grade and there is Autumn Boy,” said trainer Danny O’Brien’s stable foreman Jack Howard.
“We’ve got a really good group, and I suppose that will pose a few problems for us next season when they all become four-year-old mares and we have to split them up.”
After traveling wide, Gold Coast Belle was a sitting shot for her rivals in the straight, but the $2.70 favourite fought them all off to score by nearly half a length over Bel Meyzaan ($8.50) and the $31 outsider Sulek.
“She was there to be beaten and it’s great to get the black type for (owner) John Wheeler,” Howard said.
“We have toyed with the idea of getting out a bit further and she could get to a mile, but she has the brilliance, so we don’t have to get there.
“Queensland is a potential, but we’ve spaced it for her up to now. She’s got the black type, so we don’t have to chase it. The other option is to keep her here, give her a break and look to the spring as a four-year-old.
“She is a So You Think and then tend to improve when they turn four so that might be the ace up our sleeve with her.”
The victory was yet another triumph for jockey Jordan Childs, who only two weeks ago rode just his second Group 1 winner aboard Geegee’s Mistruth in the Robert Sagnster Stakes (1200m) in Adelaide.
“To get my second G1 was great and I’ve ridden a few winners since then so we’re in a bit of form at the moment,” Childs said.
“I feel like I have been riding well for a while. I’ve been consistent over the past few seasons, not winning G1s but winning G2 and G3 races and feature races so to knock over that second G1 hopefully I can build on that momentum going into the Brisbane carnival and then into the spring.”
Childs next Saturday aims up at another G2 win when he partners She’s A Hustler against the Cup champions Half Yours in the Hollindale Cup (1800m) on the Gold Coast.
Story by Andrew Eddy for Racing.com
Pic by Racing Photos