SUNDAY: October 25, 2020: MITCH Newman is carrying on from where he left off last season.
The former successful jockey and now Hawkesbury trainer at Canberra last Friday won his third race this season with a five-year-old mare having only her fourth start.
Elani Rose ($8), with James Innes Jnr aboard, was too swift for her rivals in the Maiden Handicap (1200m) and scored easily from Jac The Great ($9.50) and Budderoo Blitz ($3.60).
Newman prepared a personal best 11 winners last season – including a double at the Grafton carnival in July – and isn’t letting the grass grow under his feet in this new season.
He won with Piping Roller at the Newcastle spring carnival in September, and with Little Arnie at Queanbeyan on October 13.
Newman has done a splendid job with Elani Rose, a daughter of 2011 Caulfield Guineas winner Helmet, who has successfully made a belated start to her racetrack career.
She was sold for $74,000 as a weanling in 2016, then fetched $120,000 when offered at the 2017 Inglis Premier yearling sale in Melbourne.
“Elani Rose was with Ciaron Maher in Melbourne, but unfortunately she was plagued by a few issues and never raced,” Newman explained this afternoon.
Camden owners Ryan and Jaimee Kearns bought her online for $6000 two years ago.
“Elani Rose entered Tim Martin’s Rosehill stables and she came to me earlier this year along with a number of other horses when he was outed by stewards for a period.”
Elani Rose won a 1000m barrier trial at Hawkesbury in July, and Newman took her to Goulburn on August 14 to finally make her debut in a 1300m Maiden Plate.
“She struck a wet track and, being a big mare, bogged down in the heavy ground,” Newman said.
“Her next two runs at Hawkesbury on September 24 and October 11 were over 1300m, and she ran fifth on both occasions, tiring at the end.
“It has taken a while to get her fit, and I felt that going back to 1200m in country grade on a dry track would suit her at Canberra.
“It was great to see her win so easily.
“Canberra has been a good track for our stable. We have had some luck there.”
This year’s Group 1 Doncaster Mile winning rider James Innes Jnr partnered Elani Rose in her Hawkesbury trial success in July, so it was fitting that he should also be aboard in her breakthrough victory.