Tattersalls Tiara (1400m) favourite Bella Nipotina lived up to expectations at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane on Saturday. The 6-year-old mare earned her third ever Group 1 win and her second win from her last four starts in Queensland.
At $2.00 odds pre-race, Bella Nipotina was the clear betting sites favourite. Second favourite, C’est Magique ($5.00), finished all the way back in tenth place behind Vienna Princess and just in front of More Secrets.
Jockey Ryan Maloney and Bella Nipotina surged from sixth place to first from the 1,000 metre mark onwards to win the $700,000 Group 1 Tattersalls Tiara (1400m) at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Brisbane on Saturday.
Second favourite C’est Magique ($5.00) had led the race for much of the run before fading back into tenth. Bubble Rock also dominated early and fought Bella Nipotina hard down the stretch before also falling back and settling in third place.
After the race, Maloney, who was filling in for Bella Nipotina’s normal jockey Craig Williams while he is away in Ukraine on a humanitarian mission, said his horse was too good to lose on Saturday.
“In the end it really didn’t matter, she just toyed with them,” Maloney said.
“She got into a nice enough rhythm and good horses do what they do, they just know how to win. It certainly makes your job a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable.”
Rider Ryan Maloney was not the only one with high praise for Bella Nipotina. Trainer Ciaron Maher was also stunned by the mare’s dominating performance.
“To do what she has done, I thought we’d come up here for one run and maybe have a crack at 1400m in the Tiara,” Maher said.
“To run in all four and be as good in the last as she was in the first, phenomenal.
“And that’s on the back of going to Perth, running in the autumn in Sydney.”
After her busy autumn and winter schedule, Maher says Bella Nipotina will get a long rest to “freshen up” before hopefully running in the upcoming The Everest at Randwick.
Besides Bella Nipotina, the Maher-trained Semana also had a strong day.
Semana, a four-year-old mare also in Maher’s stable, finished second behind Bella Nipotina, earning Maher a quinella in this year’s Tattersalls Tiara.
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