Carnival cast of characters
A Pizza-eating, champagne swilling mare and a galloper who used to take a chomp out of his rivals will be some of the quirky headline acts of the Queensland winter carnival.
Wendy Roche has confirmed Nettoyer, who celebrated winning Saturday’s Group 1 Queen Of The Turf by eating margherita pizza, drinking scotch and coke and pink Moet champagne, is Queensland-bound.
Roche said she was eyeing off the Group 2 Hollindale Stakes on the Gold Coast on May 8 and then potentially the Group 1 Doomben Cup a fortnight later as the final two runs of her much-loved seven-year-old mare’s racing career.
Meanwhile, Lindsay Park’s Tom Dabernig has confirmed another quirky galloper, So Si Bon, will be heading to the Sunshine State for Group 1 tilts at the Kingsford-smith Cup and Stradbroke Handicap.
So Si Bon has generally been on his best behaviour in recent times but earlier in his career he developed a cult following for his enigmatic racing style and also his love of biting rival runners in a race.
So Si Bon earned himself a shot at riches in the winter carnival when winning two of his past three starts, including the $250,000 VOBIS Gold Mile at Caulfield on Saturday.
“We are planning for So Si Bon to run in the KingsfordSmith and then the Stradbroke,” Dabernig said.
“A jockey is not locked in at this stage, it will possibly be Mark Zahra or Willie Pike.”
Pizza restaurants in southeast Queensland are now on high alert with the news Nettoyer is coming for the winter carnival.
Roche said she was still to set winter carnival plans in stone but the Hollindale
Stakes looms as her first port of call.
It is great news that a twotime Group 1 winner is bound for Queensland and will also give the carnival a splash of colour.
“She had a scotch and dry and then this morning she went to beach she had a pink bottle of champagne,” Roche said, on Radiotab’s Past The Post show on Sunday.
“Her favourite pizza is actually a Dominos supreme with sweet capsicum and chilli sauce.
“Everyone thinks we just feed her pizza, but she has a balanced diet.”