Magical mare Bella Nipotina (Pride of Dubai) scored the win of her career at Randwick on Saturday, defying a wide run to defeat a field of world class sprinters in the Gr1 A$20m The Everest.
The 7YO mare has earned herself the reputation of being the toughest horse in Australian racing, securing a 10th career win with a phenomenal victory.
Bella Nipotina (Craig Williams, outside, red sleeves) trained by Ciaron Maher wins the Everest at Randwick on October (Pic – Martin King/Sportpix – Inglis)
Jumping from the outside gate of barrier 12, the Ciaron Maher-trained Bella Nipotina was never better than three wide for the 1200m journey but staved off challengers inside and out to score the memorable win.
Bella Nipotina is bred by Michael Christian, who races the mare with Siobhan Miller, Brad and Pauline Christian, Andy Ingersole, Mick and Alise Johnston, Tim and Bronwyn Porter and Wayne and Vicki Pelchen.
The mare was just an A$80,000 purchase out of the Rosemont Stud draft at the Premier Yearling Sale for Lindsay Park, Andrew Williams and Mt Hallowell Stud.
From 55 career starts – which included placings in both the Inglis Banner and Inglis Millennium as a 2YO – Bella Nipotina has now won A$18.3m in prizemoney.
She is one of 100 individual Gr1-winning Inglis graduates since 2018 and one of 44 that could have been purchased for A$100,000 or less in that period.
Longwood Thoroughbred Farm’s Michael Christian was trackside at Randwick to witness his mare’s extraordinary performance and was lost for words post-race.
“It’s unbelievable, I’m not sure what to say,’’ an elated Christian said.
“She’s just a freak. She’s seven years of age, she raced as an October 2YO and now she’s reached the pinnacle. She’s won The Everest. It’s a dream come true.
“I’m on cloud nine. Our fear all week from the gate was that she’d be caught three wide with no cover, and she was. And she was still good enough. What more can she do?’’
Christian was flanked by friends and connections of Bella Nipotina after the win, including trainer Ciaron Maher.
Maher also trained the third placegetter and Easter Yearling Sale graduate Growing Empire and was full of praise for Bella Nipotina, who he described as “phenomenal’’.
“We were pretty confident leading into today, she was in career best form,’’ the trainer said.
“She’d been doing on firm tracks what she used to do on tracks with give in it and she got her preferred surface today.
“She can sometimes not step so well but sometimes she can get a flyer and we decided that if she stepped well, let’s go, so we wanted to be forward and we were.
“We thought if she could do that she’d be hard to beat. I thought with the run she had she might have got beat but she’s bloody tough.
“She’s a bit like me, she doesn’t like to miss out on a carnival. She’s a phenomenal horse to train, the team has done such a super job with her. She looked pristine this week.’’
When asked if Bella Nipotina could come back next year as an 8YO and go back-to-back in The Everest, Maher quipped: “I’m done trying to say what she can’t do.’’
