David Thiselton
There were two significant overseas results over the weekend with a South African flavour to them courtesy of a pair of six-year-old mares, with Gimme A Nother winning a Gr 3 in the USA, while a British-bred mare part-owned by Larry Nestadt and Gary player, Alalcance, won the Gr 2 Brisbane Cup at Eagle Farm in Australia.
At Monmouth Park on Saturday Gimme a Nother sat behind a relatively slow pace, swept to the front on the far turn and drew away late to a 3,5 length win in the Grade 3, $150,000 Eatontown Stakes for fillies and mares.
The Wilgerbosdrift and Mauritzfontein Gimmthegreenlight homebred mare, who is a six-year-old by Northern Hemisphere rules, is trained by Graham Motion and jockey Jorge Ruiz wore the familiar Mauritzfontein black colours with a yellow sash, sleeves and cap.
It was the 55th running of the 1 1/16-mile turf race, contested on firm going by a field of six who were aged three and upwards.
Longshot Creative Stuff carved out the pace on the inside through an unhurried quarter-mile in 25.24 seconds and went through the half-a-mile in 50.42.
Gimme a Nother, who was the 6/5 second favourite, settled well behind her and made her bid when going around the leader on the far turn.
She took over the lead and and reached the three-quarters of a mile point in 1:14.83.
Even-money favorite Whiskey Decision, under Flavien Prat, ranged up three wide around the bend and rallied at the top of the straight to briefly challenge the winner 400m out.
However, Gimme a Nother brought back memories of her Turffontein heroics when responding to being ridden. She kicked clear, going through mile in 1:37.34, before being ridden out to win by 3,5 lengths in a final time of 1:42.90.
“She’s a very professional filly. She made it easy work for me. I broke good, got good position early and it was just a matter of waiting for the right time to ask her. She was so strong in the stretch. When I asked her she kept giving me more. I’ve worked her in the mornings. She’s a very nice mare,” Ruiz said.
Whiskey Decision dug in to finish second
Grayosh (9-2), under Tyler Gaffalione, raced off the pace inside, swung out for a late rally and finished third.
Don’t Jinx It (12-1) tracked the speed and lacked a kick to wind up fourth.
Creative Stuff faded to fifth and Rhee Wall (92-1) trailed the field.
Gimme A Nother is by Gimmethegreenlight out of the Tiger Ridge mare Nother Russia and she races for Stephen and Jessica Jell’s USA operation, Newstead Stables. She won all seven of her starts in South Africa including two Gr 1s, before relocating to the United States.
“It was a perfect trip. We thought she might end up on the lead the way she has been running her last couple of starts, but it was fine that he let that longshot (Creative Stuff) set the pace with her right behind in slow fractions. There wasn’t a ton of speed in the race so Jorge (Ruiz) did exactly what we wanted him to do. She does know how to win, that’s for sure. She was undefeated in South Africa before she came here. She had a bit of a slow start to her career in the United States but lately she has not done anything wrong. Even in her defeats she was very good. With the Southern Hemisphere horses it is quite a transition bringing them to the United States. We’ve done it in the past with South American horses, not so much horses like this from South Africa. It does take them a little time to get accustomed. It’s not an easy thing,” said Ian Wilson, an assistant to Motion.
The win earned Gimme a Nother free entry to the July 18 Matchmaker Stakes at Monmouth Park, an option also open to runner-up Whiskey Decision.
At Eagle Farm on Saturday the striking grey mare Alalcance (Mastercraftsman) secured back-to-back wins, having edged out stablemate Bella Montagna in the Gr 3 Premier’s Cup (2400m) at the same track a fortnight earlier.
Tim Clark delivered an assured performance aboard Alalcance, who carried 59kg and never looked threatened in the straight after establishing a handy lead.
Stable representative John Livingstone was full of praise for both horse and rider and it looks likely that Nestadt and Player can look forward to a Melbourne Cup campaign.
“She was great, wasn’t she? She has given them everything – weight, the start, everything,” said Livingstone.
“She wasn’t that good with the blinkers off today and didn’t jump the best, but Tim just bided his time. He’s a great judge of pace. He went to the lead and it was all over.
“With the blinkers off, it just took a little bit of time for her to get interested – but she got into it at the right time, off the back of a win last start.”
Clark confirmed that removing the blinkers played a crucial role in helping Alalcance settle over the gruelling 3200m journey.
“It helped her relax through the middle stages. She was a little bit further back than I’d anticipated, but it is a long way, two miles, so I wasn’t in any rush,” he said.
“A couple of moves came earlier and the race really quickened up, which was better for me.
“I was confident that she was the superior stayer, even though she had 59kg. I was just confident that her class would take her a long way.”
Clark was equally enthusiastic about the mare’s future prospects, noting that the Great Britain import had needed a run or two to acclimatise to Australian conditions before showing her true ability.
“She was brilliant today. I’m sure Gai (Waterhouse) and Adrian (Bott) would be stoked and I’m sure Gai would already be plotting a path to the first Tuesday in November,” he said.
“She would drop a lot in weight (for the Melbourne Cup), but she can really stay. She’ll go for a well-earned spell now and come back for the spring.”
