Nostra Beach's connections celebrate her APG fillies victory.
A long-held plan came together perfectly for connections of a talented filly, capturing a rich juvenile prize on a night to remember.
Nostra Beach pipped stablemate Molly Kelly to win another Australian Pacing Gold triumph for Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin’s Smythes Creek team, which produced the trifecta with Molly Kelly a close second and Pistol Abbey third.
In addition to a monumental training performance, the Somebeachsomewhere filly's win also marked driver Mark Pitt’s first Group 1 win, having come in the 23-year-old’s 1388th drive.
It was also a stunning track record, with the 1:53.5 mile rate slashing two seconds off Mindarie Priddy’s 2013 two-year-old fillies’ benchmark, and was also 0.2 under Dont Hold Back’s two-year-old colts and geldings’ record for the short distance.
And, last but not least, it was reward for a grand investment by owners Mervat and Anthony Caruana and their families, who lit a chilly Tabcorp Park Melton straight alight with their unbridled joy.
Speaking minutes after the triumphant trifecta Stewart was soaking up another record breaking night.
“It was exciting,” she said. “To go into a race with four live hopes, and they weren’t all without a winning hope, but to run first three probably (seems like) wishful thinking. It was a great effort.”
The win comes in the wake of Stewart’s stable capturing last month’s Nevele R Stud Victoria Oaks with Miss Graceland, a filly out of Amarillen. Bred by Naomi and the late Richard Hinds, it is significant because the same Tasmanian breeders and same dam also produced Nostra Beach.
Stewart said it was not only reaffirmation of the importance of breeding lines, but significant that Nostra Beach was at the top of her class so early given she, like Miss Graceland, didn’t always hit the ground running.
“Nostra Beach had a great run and she did a top job,” Stewart said. “Her sister (Miss Graceland) is like this as well, she’s always sort of been a little hard to get going.
“For (Nostra Beach) to be up for the Gold was a pretty big effort for her, because she does do a few things wrong. She’s got raw ability and I think that sort of counteracts a bit of greenness. She did a terrific job and I knew she would improve with racing.”
She was also advantaged by the race’s unrelenting pace.
As expected, Molly Kelly found the front from gate five, with pressure coming from trainer-driver Mark Purdon’s entrant Just Makemine Diamonds, who rolled forward from gate seven and kept on rolling.
A 26.9 first quarter set the race alight and prompted Chris Alford (Molly Kelly) to hand the lead to Just Makemine Diamonds, exposing Nostra Beach to the breeze first time down the main straight.
Pitt saw off Passions Delight’s attempt to advance three-wide and claim the breeze, forcing Jason Lee to relent and retreat to the back of the pack and putting paid to her chances.
The pace eased only slightly through 28.7 and 28.5 second and third quarters, and as they approached the final straight Just Makemine Diamonds bid had faltered, with Alford easing Molly Kelly off her back to hunt Nostra Beach, who had stolen a good length at the final turn.
A courageous Molly Kelly chomped ground from Nostra Beach, but the latter held on to score by a half-neck, with Pistol Abbey the only filly to make ground to run into an impressive third.
“I was pretty confident over the short distance, but a lot of horses step out in finals and they do improve,” Stewart said. “I knew Mark’s horse would improve and it came out of the gate hard and it’s probably cost Molly Kelly winning the race, but you have to have the numbers in it.
“With our training, we do a lot with the two-year-olds and we are sort of used to keeping them up and know where they have to be. They are not heavily raced before they come into this series. It’s worked out pretty good.”
Particularly for the Caruana family, who purchased the filly for $62,000 at the 2016 Australian Pacing Gold sales and were rewarded with Saturday night’s $150,000 pay day in only her fourth start.
“He’s that excited,” Stewart said of Anthony Caruana. “He’s put a lot of money into these horses and I don’t think he’s had a winner until this filly. He’s that excited and it’s great to see.”
Mr Caruana said a lot of work preceded the honour of lofting the APG trophy.
“I want to thank Rita Burnett and Moni Burnett who broke the horse in, are always on call and give me a lot of advice,” he said. “My Dad got me into the game and always supported me with everything that I do.”
And then, of course, there is the trainer who applies more than just the polish.
“I was taking a horse up to Emma’s one day and I said to Emma I’ve got a surprise for you, here you go Emma, you’ve got another horse, you’ve got Miss Graceland’s sister,” Mr Caruana said. “I was speaking to Clayton before and said, “It was a good surprise, hey?” And he said it was a brilliant surprise. I said to him the surprise went both ways because if I never gave the horse to you there’s a good chance I wouldn’t be here today.”
Media enquiries:
Michael Howard (HRV Media/Communications Co-Ordinator)
t: 03 8378 0286 | e: mhoward@hrv.org.au | tw: @MichaelRHoward
