Mrs Brown’s boy does it in style
MANDY and Matt Brown were so excited about getting to the birdcage to celebrate their Group I success they did not even know La Diosa was running around riderless.
Dead last at the halfway mark of the 1600m race, La Diosa stormed down the outside of the Riccarton track to win the $300,000 Gavelhouse.com 1000 Guineas on Saturday before dumping apprentice jockey Racha Cuneen shortly after the line.
Matt Brown had no idea until he was being interviewed by media in the birdcage but his relief on learning La Diosa was safe was almost as satisfying as the stunning win he had just witnessed.
‘‘We were way up there (top of the Grand National Grandstand) screaming our guts out so we were on our way down. I didn’t even realise,’’ he said.
La Diosa, the $2.50 favourite, beat home Bella Gioia by one-and- a-half lengths with a further halflength back to Sweepstake.
Brown directed all the credit towards wife Mandy and described the win as the pinnacle of their training careers.
The local win for the North Canterbury-based trainers, in their red and black colours was a popular one with the Riccarton crowd.
In her usual detailed and workaholic fashion, it was Mandy Brown leading La Diosa around the birdcage as connections celebrated the Group I glory.
‘‘She’s put so much dedication in over the years, I’m just rapt for her,’’ Brown said.
‘‘This is all about Mandy, I just tag along for the ride.’’
Cuneen, whose only previous Group I ride was a second aboard Miss Seton Sands in the Telegraph earlier this year, said he owed everything to La Diosa’s connections who kept him on for the Guineas on his home track.
‘‘They’re very loyal. I got my chance and I’m glad I did it for them,’’ Cuneen said.
‘‘Riding a Group I winner... it’s a dream come true.’’
Neither Matt Brown or Cuneen were worried about being so far back - with the filly’s racing pattern best suited to getting back and storming home.
‘‘It’s a big long straight and I always knew she had the ability to pick them up,’’ Cuneen said.
La Diosa becomes just the fourth South Island trained winner of the 1000 Guineas following on from Planet Rock (2011) The Jewel (2002) and Canterbury Belle (1984).
By So You Think, La Diosa was bred by Terry Archer who remains in the ownership team.
La Diosa’s dam Star Affair is a half sister to The Jewel - who beat home the Mandy and Matt Browntrained Chestpeak in the 2002 Guineas.
Meanwhile, Krystal WilliamsTuhoro has made the perfect start to her training career with a Listed winner in her first race.
Williams-Tuhoro joined her father Kenny Rae and his wife Lisa in their training partnership just in time for Prom Queen’s oneand-three-quarter length win in the $50,000 Listed Barneswood Farm Welcome Stakes.
The Rae camp, who are based in Ruakaka but campaign a team out of Riccarton, first filled out the forms to extend their partnership to a trio back in August but a mistake with the forms meant it was delayed and they had to be resent.
‘‘I said to her I’m down (Riccarton) here, you do it, the next minute I looked in the paper and it was through. Her first runner was a stakes winner,’’ Rae said.
Prom Queen beat home Kiwi Ida with a further length back to Sensei to remain unbeaten from two starts and give Hallmark Stud sire Super Easy his first stakes win. PUMP Up The Volume has proved to be third time lucky for Ralph Manning and Kelly McCulloch.
When the Manning-trained Pump Up The Volume drove home down the outside to fend off outsider Perfect Start and win the $250,000 Group III New Zealand Cup at Riccarton yesterday it gave both Manning and McCulloch their third victory in the race.
At the end of the two-mile test, Pump Up The Volume and Perfect Start could only be separated by half a head in a photo finish that saw two sisters battling for the Cup victory.
McCulloch (nee Myers) managed to get the wood on her younger sister Rosie Myers (Perfect Start).
A last-start winner in the Feilding Gold Cup, Manning had been happy with his honest stayer leading into his first New Zealand Cup.
However, he was taking nothing for granted leading into yesterday’s race.
‘‘You don’t get confident in these races but he’s been racing in his best form this year,’’ Manning said.
‘‘He’s always been unsound all his life but he’s a bit sounder this year.’’
The Cambridge trainer had won the Cup previously with Laud Peregrine (1997) and Oak Vue (1986).
‘‘It’s my third one, the race has been good to me,’’ Manning said.
He races the Savabeel eightyear-old with long-time stable client Tony Coombe.
McCulloch had won two previous Cups aboard Mungo Jerry (2014) and Hoorang (2008).
Pump Up The Volume’s one previous start over 3200m resulted in a win at Trentham way back in 2013 and he had plenty of experience on his side.
‘‘There are always young horses going through but he’s been round in this competition for the last five years,’’ Manning said.
Pump Up The Volume’s victory was the fifth consecutive win for female jockeys in the race following on from Lisa Allpress (Jimmy Mac), McCulloch (Mungo Jerry), Rosie Myers (Spring Cheer) and Allpress (Blood Brotha).
Earlier, exciting stayer Bloodstream stamped his promising credentials with a fivelength win in $40,000 rating 85 company over 2500m to earn his fifth win on the trot.
Riccarton trainer Terri Rae has worked the oracle with the fiveyear-old son of Duelled who only won his maiden race on September 17 at start 11.
‘ This is all about Mandy, I just tag along for the ride’ MATT BROWN