‘Iron mare’ Bella snatches Doomben 10,000 victory
Talented daughter of Pride Of Dubai grabs her second elite-level win in Queensland premier sprint
Bella Nipotina proved herself not only a super sprinter but a mare made of iron as she gave her Coolmore sire Pride Of Dubai (Street Cry) another boost ahead of the spring by winning her second elite-level in Saturday’s Doomben 10,000 (Gr 1, 1200m).
In becoming just the second mare to win the weight-for-age feature in the past 13 years – after English (Encosta De Lago) in 2018 – Bella Nipotina also provided more reward for her connections’ decision to eschew the breeding barn last spring, adding greatly to her coffers and to her coming progeny’s value by racing on.
Sent out a slightly easy third favourite at $7, the Ciaron Maher-trained six-year-old bungled the start and settled near last of nine for Craig Williams, trailing the heavily-backed $2.20 favourite I Wish I Win (Savabeel).
The Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman gelding was sent up an inside path by James McDonald in the straight and was hailed the winner after shooting clear at the 200 metres, before Bella Nipotina flew down the outside late to grab victory on the post by the barest of margins.
Bred by the Saconi Thoroughbreds concern of Longwood Farm’s Michael Christian and associates, Bella Nipotina’s $900,000 first prize took her earnings to $10,736,000.
She also pushed Pride Of Dubai to within around $200,000 of the top three on the Australian general sires’ table – after the 11-year-old had risen to a personal best fourth so far this season – at the same time as Coolmore dropped his service fee for this year from $27,500 (inc GST) to $22,000 (inc GST).
The stallion’s surge, from an eighth-placed finish last season, has come mainly thanks to the memorable deeds of another Maher-trained six-year-old mare, Pride Of Jenni, and her three Group 1s and an All Star Mile (1600m).
Pride Of Jenni has thrilled racegoers with her dashing front-running style. Bella Nipotina has proven wondrous also, but for different reasons, and not only because she often comes from the back.
In the past seven weeks, she’s gone from running a narrow second in Randwick’s TJ Smith Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m), to crossing the country for a 1.4 length fourth in Perth’s $5 million Quokka (1200m), before a return east to continue her training in and around Sydney, and then her trip north to claim Doomben’s feature sprint.
Her Doomben 10,000 title now sits alongside her 2022 Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) success on the top shelf of her trophy cabinet, with her Moonee Valley breakthrough richly savoured by her team following three top-level placings stretched over 12 months.
“She’s phenomenal,” Maher said after the race. “She ran second in the TJ Smith and on the Monday after she jumped on a plane and went to Perth, came back, and now she’s in Queensland. She’s absolutely unbelievable.
“She hasn’t been in [one] stable more than three days over the past two weeks. She was in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle, and now Brisbane.”
Maher thanked Brisbane’s premier trainer Tony Gollan and his team for having looked after Bella Nipotina while she’s been stabled in Brisbane.
“She was a little bit off when she came up here. Their attention to detail is spot on,” Maher said after his 44th Group 1, with 30 of them coming in partnership with David Eustace, the trainer was also quick to praise Williams for the ice-cold ride on a wearing Soft7 track that yielded the jockey’s 77th elite-level victory.
“I thought with the conditions and the track, everything would suit, but then after we jumped I thought we were no chance.
“Every one in four, she muffs the start.
“But Craig knows her really, really well and he took his medicine. That was unbelievable.”
Early last September, Christian told ANZ Bloodstock News there was a chance he and Bella Nipotina’s co-owners could send her to stud that spring.
“If she was to run really poorly with no excuses this campaign, it’s still not too late to go to the breeding barn,” Christian said at the time, naming I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit), Zoustar (Northern Meteor), Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) and Wootton Bassett (Iffraaj) on a list of possible dates.
The major cause to race on, these days, is of course the dizzying prize-money on offer, and thankfully for Team Bella Nipotina, the mare showed she should keep competing.
She’s had 11 starts since then for two wins, four placings, and a worst finish of fifth, and has brought in $5.93 million.
While most of that came from a Willy Wonka-like bonanza for winning a non-black type event – Randwick’s Giga Kick or Winners Stakes (1300m) on November 4, when bonuses meant she earned $3.6 million in winning a $3 million race – no one in the ownership will be regretting their decision. Those four stallions will still be there, and keen, this spring, if retirement does come.
Sadly, Bella Nipotina’s dam Bella Orfana (Star Witness) was lost only last month to a rare form of sinus cancer aged only 11, Christian told ANZ Bloodstock News.
Plagued by fertility issues from the loss of an ovary in recent years, Bella Orfana had missed to I Am Invincible last spring, but Saconi do have her weanling filly by Trapeze Artist (Snitzel).
“It was very tragic to lose Bella Orfana, very emotional for all of us,” Christian said last night. “But we do have the Trapeze Artist filly, who we’ll keep.”
More Brisbane Group 1 riches may await Bella Nipotina before the season is out. Christian said she would fulfil a long-term goal of being tried over 1400 metres when tackling the $700,000, Tattersall’s Tiara (Gr 1, 1400m) at Eagle Farm on June 29, with possibly the $1 million Kingsford Smith Cup (Gr 1, 1300m) on June 1 along the way.
The first four home in yesterday’s 10,000 came from the second half of the field, with Chris Waller and Star Thoroughbreds’ $5 second-favourite Espiona (Extreme Choice) adding a fourth Group 1 third placing – alongside one victory – in finishing a length behind I Wish I Win.
Joe Pride and Proven Thoroughbreds’ Private Eye (Al Maher) was fourth at $10.
Bella Nipotina’s (6 m Pride Of Dubai – Bella Orfana by Star Witness) first black type victory of the season gave Pride Of Dubai his eighth stakes-winner of 2023-24 – equal-fifth most in the country – and brought the stallion’s tenth stakes win of the term, putting him equal-fourth.
The mare is the first of just three named foals for Bella Orfana, and the best of the two who’ve raced.
Bella Nipotina was purchased by Andrew Williams, Mount Hallowell Stud and Lindsay Park for $80,000 out of the Rosemont Stud draft at the 2019 Premier Yearling Sale, eventually being transferred from Lindsay Park to Maher after her three-year-old autumn.