Princess Gets Dirty At Doomben

Princess Qualo (pink) joins Purettan for a final dash to the post (Noel Pascoe photos)

Princess Qualo proved the critics wrong sitting just off the pace and dominating on a rain-affected Doomben track in the Ambassador Travel QTIS 3YO Handicap 1200m on Saturday, May 29.

Consistency had left the Robert Heathcote-trained three-year-old momentarily, who had recently been branded with the inability to run in wet conditions.

After she won three of her first seven career races and collected prizemoney on every other occasion during that run, Princess Qualo’s form dried up rapidly.

This was her first win since November last year. She had been returning unenviable results of late finishing 15th and 16th from as many runners at her two most recent starts on the Gold Coast.

“Everyone knows my opinion of her…she’s a good horse,” Heathcote made clear, who picked up a winning double at Doomben with Tabulate saluting in the Group 3 Channel Seven Premier’s Cup Handicap 2200m.

“There were three ordinary runs, but there were excuses to us. I wasn’t convinced it was the wet tracks that were getting her beat.

“She beat a pretty good field today on a track that people have said is not her best.

“We were a little bit confident she’d run well and she has. It’s no surprise to us and sometimes us trainers get one right.”

What a day to return to form however, as suspense built for the hottest field to take to the track for the Group 1 Doomben 10,000 in memory.

Jockey Larry Cassidy was reassigned to the ride and had the filly by Sequalo, out of Princess Potter, jump well from an equally handy barrier three.

Connections of Princess Qualo now have some planning ahead as the filly returns to winning form after a lean period

Heathcote had the three-year-old don blinkers for the first time and it seemed a masterstroke as the filly immediately settled in a more forward position from her previous outings.

Sitting calmly in fourth, one off the rails, Princess Qualo was provided good cover from the frontrunners led by Kiss Me Katy (Ric McMahon).

Entering the straight, Purettan, who had sat to the inside of Princess Qualo with Danny Nikolic onboard, took a run along the rails provided by a shifting Kiss Me Katy in front.

Cassidy opted to take Princess Qualo towards the centre of the track and quickly wrapped around the tiring pacesetters to meet with Purettan once again for a final 100 metre dash to the post.

The filly finished much too strong to the surprise of punters who sent her out an $18 chance, heavily influenced by the Slow 6 track rating.

Purettan, trained by Trevor Bailey on the Gold Coast, has had his chances of late in Black Type company but was helped in the QTIS three-year-old race by the more favourable draw of barrier one.

The half neck second placing for Purettan almost gifted Nikolic two wins from the first two races at Doomben after guiding home Firebolt for Roger James of New Zealand in the first event, the Guvera Two Metro Wins-Last Year Handicap 1630m.

Startling Pleasure finished well late to record a three quarters of a length third placing for trainer Peter Strong and jockey Jason Holder.

Doubters of Princess Qualo’s ability in the wet included some connections as Cassidy revealed, who had left the mount last start to take on an opportunity with the visiting Graceful Anna in the Gold Coast Guineas three weeks prior.

“We’ve always had a very good opinion of her,” Cassidy said. “Obviously I couldn’t ride her last start because Graceful Anna came along.

“First time she raced on a wet track we thought she was a bit of a wet track duffer. She nearly fell and I think lost her confidence.

“Rob did the smart thing and put blinkers on her. I thought she may still struggle to handle this. If it was race eight she wouldn’t have handled it, in race two she did…if it was a good track she would have blown them away.”

Heathcote had nothing but praise for Cassidy’s ride, despite the jockey opting to leave his regular mount for the Graceful Anna opportunity last start.

“Young Larry Cassidy was back on her today after a good and long association,” Heathcote said.

“We forgave him and he’s got the job done. Ten out of 10 ride.

“It’s always great to win a race anytime, but especially on Doomben 10,000 Raceday.”

Princess Qualo has now started on 11 occasions for four wins and an impressive $210,500 in career prizemoney.

The three-year-old’s financial bottom line has been greatly boosted by her QTIS registration which has attributed $76,000 in added stakes to her total collect.

Purettan similarly benefits from a QTIS registration as the three-year-old gelding has added $26,000 in race bonuses alone to his career prizemoney.

With no firm plans in place for his filly, Heathcote was happy to see her return to winning form and will most likely utilise her QTIS registration to follow-up in another three-year-old race to carry bonus prizemoney.

QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Ross Dowd – May 31