Dubai Belle ends waiting game
16th Sep 2012
A lengthy wait came to a memorable end for Tony Bambry on Saturday when he cheered home his first black-type winner on his home course of Awapuni.
Stable runner Dubai Belle (NZ) (E Dubai) upstaged her more fancied rivals with a sterling performance to land the Gr.3 Merial Ancare Metric Mile and provide her trainer with the biggest win of his career.
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| Dubai Belle (NZ) (E Dubai) |
“I’ve had a licence for 23 years and had a few fillies placed over the years with Ormond Road second in a Warstep Stakes and Sitting On A Hill third in the Eulogy, but this is an enormous thrill,” Bambry said. “I’ve always rated her highly.”
A former sheep and beef farmer, he moved to Awapuni 17 years ago and has never had more than a small team in work. He took over the preparation of Dubai Belle when former trainer Francis Finnegan, whose partner is Bambry’s daughter Samantha, re-located to Melbourne.
“She’s a quality mare and always showed us she was capable of winning a race like this,” he said. “I think she’s got a big future. And Robert Hannam rode a great race.”
Hannam executed their pre-race plan to perfection when he drove Dubai Belle to the lead on straightening and dared the field to run them down.
“She was only carrying 53kg so we put it to them turning for home,” he said. “I didn’t want to wait for the others to come to me and they couldn’t run us down – the post came up in time.”
Dubai Belle got home by a short head from the fast-finishing Amberio (NZ) (Captain Rio) with Superturf (NZ) (Black Minnaloushe) running home nicely to take third money. Pacemaker Khemosabi (Commands) was game under pressure to hang on for fourth ahead of topweight Zennista (NZ) (Zenno Rob Roy) and the favourite Art Beat (NZ) (Captain Rio).
Bambry said the immediate plan for Dubai Belle would be a trip to Hawera for the Gr.3 Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes on October 13. The five-year-old will drop back to 1400 metres for that race, but connections are confident she will star over a middle distance in the future.
“In twelve months’ time she’ll be going 2000 metres and she’ll go on top of the ground,” Bambry said.
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Race |
Marton JC Metric Mile H. Gr.3 1600m |
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Winner |
Dubai Belle (NZ) 2007 |
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Owners |
R M Hapi |
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Trainer |
Tony Bambry (Awapuni) |
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Breeding |
by E Dubai (USA) out of Shy Dancer |
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Breeder |
R M Hapi |