SATURDAY: January 30, 2021: IT may have been nothing more than a country Maiden, but Hawkesbury trainer Matt Vella knew the importance of the result.
His four-year-old mare You Rang, a daughter of Golden Slipper winner Sebring, finally broke through at Bathurst yesterday at her seventh start (and only her third for him after seconds at Orange and Muswellbrook).
Jockey Chad Lever removed bad luck from the equation by taking hotpot You Rang ($1.30) to the front in the Maiden Plate (1108m) against her own sex, before steamrolling her rivals in the straight.
She strolled home nearly six lengths ahead of Palazzi Signorili ($10), with $71 roughie Destiny’s Revolt snatching third placing.
Vella broke in You Rang for his employer Sir Owen Glenn, who bred the mare, and she was sent to co-trainers Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott at Royal Randwick.
“She ran second at Kembla Grange on debut in July 2019 to Enchanted, who subsequently won in town, and the third placegetter Sangria later won a stakes race at Flemington,” Vella said this morning.
“But she has a few quirks and Gai and Adrian after a few more runs recommended to Sir Owen that she might be better coming out to me and being trained at Hawkesbury.
“All credit to them for doing so, and it was terrific to get that result for Sir Owen yesterday as she is a very well-bred mare and the first foal of her dam Ruud Awakening.
“It wasn’t a strong field at Bathurst and I mentioned to Chad to let her roll if there was no speed.
“He rated her perfectly, and I’m sure she will take confidence from such an easy win.”
Ruud Awakening, a daughter of Bernardini, won five of her 13 starts, including the 2013 Karaka Million (ridden by Craig Williams) and Group 1 Diamond Stakes (Opie Bosson) at Ellerslie in New Zealand as a two-year-old.
But she has had a chequered career as a broodmare, highlighting the importance of You Rang’s Bathurst breakthrough.
Ruud Awakening, after foaling You Rang, subsequently missed to Sir Owen’s multiple Group 1 winner Criterion and then lost a filly foal, who died soon after birth, to him.
Pleasingly, she has since foaled a colt by Russian Revolution and filly by I Am Invincible.
. Vella clinched his second win in three days for Sir Owen Glenn after scoring with another daughter of 2008 Golden Slipper winner Sebring (who died two years ago), three-year-old filly Silent Tryst, at Gosford on Wednesday.