Ortensia’s dynamic win in Saturday’s Group 2 Winterbottom Stakes (wfa 1200m), at Ascot, was very timely for trainer Tony Noonan, who is in the throws of setting up a satellite stable in Perth.

The affable, and much-travelled Noonan, who is based at Mornington, has always rated Ortensia (b m 2005, Testa Rossa – Aerate’s Pick by Picnicker) very highly, but until Saturday luck has deserted the daughter of Testa Rossa (pictured at Vinery Stud) this spring.

It was a brave decision by Noonan to back up the mare in seven days after her fading sixth behind Sniper’s Bullet in the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot. Ortensia didn’t run out a strong 1600m, and seven days is not a long time to freshen her up for the shorter trip.

Importantly, jockey Craig Williams rode the mare quietly, and took her very wide – she is best when not squeezed between horses – to make her run. She ran over the top of Idyllic Prince – winner of his previous four starts – to grab victory in the shadows of the post.

Ortensia’s sire Testa Rossa is a stallion on the rise and she is likely to be his next Group 1 winner. Read our story on Testa Rossa – “Testa Rossa & life in the valley of stallions” – in the 2009 autumn issue of The Thoroughbred magazine.

Noonan also trained an impressive winner at Moonee Valley, the 5YO mare Belscenica, who in contrast to Ortensia was stepping in distance to 2040m for the first time. Belscenica, the winner of five of her 13 starts, had scored impressively over 1600m at her previous start, also at Moonee Valley, 12 days earlier.

Belscenica, ridden by 3kg-claimer Jarrod Fry, worked wide for the first 700m before going forward to sit outside the lead. The mare kicked clear on the turn for a decisive win. It was a clever ride and an excellent training performance.

As much as Noonan is infatuated with his stable star in Perth, he has a sentimental attachment to Belscenica, who is closely related to Noonan’s only Group 1 winner, Piavonic (b or br m 1995, Scenic–Piave Girl, by Brave Salute), the dam of the enigmatic Von Costa De Hero (by Encosta De Lago).

Piavonic came with a storming run – a bit similar to Ortensia’s Winterbottom effort – to run down the great mare Sunline in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes (wfa 1200m) at Moonee Valley in 2001.

Belscenica also is by Scenic (by Sadler’s Wells (USA)) from the same female line as Piavonic. Her granddam Belle Uno (by Delgado (USA)) is a half-sister to Piave Girl – both are out of the fast mare Black Serenade (by Black Opaque), who is bred 3×3, sire line over sire line, to the great Star Kingdom (IRE).

Those who are old enough will remember Black Serenade’s granddam La Paz (ch m 1964, Coronation Boy (IRE)- Peacefire, by Pipe Of Peace (GB)) as being a tough and fast race filly for leading trainer Angus Armanasco, around the same time he also trained the flying Biscay (ch h 1965, Star Kingdom (IRE)–Magic Symbol, by Makarpura (GB)).

The Thoroughbred Magazine Club’s filly Bellelui has settled in well into her surroundings at Eliza Park.

The filly was treated last week by Dr. Geoff Rankin, who worked on her back and hamstrings. Rankin is confident he has fixed Belleluia’s issues, suffered from her slip at the start of her race at Mornington.

Belleluia has been put into a paddock to rest and recover. Plans remain for her to return to work at the end of December.

In other news, Belleluia’s three-quarter sister, the sensational Black Caviar, has returned to work with trainer Peter Moody at Caulfield. Coincidentally, Black Caviar also suffered muscle soreness over her back when she nearly fell coming out of the gates, before motoring to the lead to win the Group 2 Danehill Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on October 3 – her fourth win from as many starts.

Black Caviar is being set for the rich sprints in the autumn carnival.

The win of Mark One at the Sunshine Coast last Friday reminded me of a story I wrote this time last year on The Thoroughbred website about his sire Markane, a Red Ransom stallion who is leaving a few winners from his Queensland base.

It is the connection between Markane (pictured) and his half-brother Just Awesome that initial aroused my interest to write the story.

Mark One is a 4YO from the imported mare Lady Smytzer, by Spectrum. Lady Smytzer comes from the direct family that produce the sensational dual Oaks winning filly Pawneese (b m 1973, Calvin (FR)–Plencia (FR), by Le Haar (FR)), bred in Ireland of all French stock. Pawneese won the 1976 Epsom Oaks and Prix Diane (French Oaks) and the King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Pawneese’s dam Plencia is the fourth dam of Mark One.

Markane, who was raced by Tony Santic of Makybe Diva fame, has now sired 17 winners from 47 starts. Most of his best winners are from Santic’s supply of good-class mares.

For readers of The Breed, I reproduce that November 2008 story:

Just one cruel cut

In 1995, Lee Freedman took the call from the manager of a spelling farm in Queensland anticipating one of his regular updates on a team of outstanding horses wintering in the sun following the Brisbane carnival in 1995.

One of the group was the promising stayer Doriemus (Ch g 1990, Norman Pentaquad (USA)-Golden Woods (NZ), by Zamazaan (FR)) who Freedman was “hiding” away from the handicapper in preparation for an assault on the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups after three sprints runs in Brisbane. Doriemus would go on to win the Cups double.

Also spelling was the classy sprinter, the handsome Just Awesome (b h 1990, Last Tycoon (IRE)-Kew Gardens (FR), by Kenmare (FR)), who was sent to Freedman earlier that season in an effort to try and win a Group 1 race to enhance his stallion prospects. Just Awesome, after a succession of Group placings, had finally won an elusive Stakes race – the 1994 Listed Concorde Stakes (1100m) at Rosehill.

Just Awesome won first-up for Freedman at Caulfield on April 15, 1995, over 1000m, but he failed badly when 13th in the Group 1 Goodwood Handicap (1200m) at Morphettville in May, a race that had looked perfectly suitable for the 4YO entire. Freedman sent him to Brisbane to finish a promising and luckless seventh in the Group 3 B.A.T.C. Sprint (1350m) at Doomben, a run that didn’t transfer to the Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap (1400m at Eagle Farm) when Just Awesome raced on the pace before tiring for 16^th behind Rouslan. Freedman sent both runner-up Schillaci (Gr g 1988, Salieri (USA)-Biscarina, by Biscay) and Just Awesome for a spell in the sun.

The phone call from Queensland, in the days before trainers could be easily contacted by mobile phone, came into Freedman’s Flemington office, accompanied by a tone of voice that immediately alerted Freedman something was amiss. “Just Awesome has been gelded by mistake,” came the panicked voice on the other end of the phone.

I was sitting in the next office to Freedman. As his racing manager of two years, I was well accustomed to a Freedman outburst. This one was a monumental, Hall Of Fame performance. “What do you mean gelded by mistake?” “What do you mean half-gelded?” were just two of Freedman’s demands that can be repeated.

It transpired that a vet had arrived with an authority to geld a colt, but a staff member had misdirected the vet to a yard containing Just Awesome. Just Awesome had the required impressive physical equipment for gelding, and the vet, who broke all the rules by not checking the horse’s brands, set about his task. He had removed one testicle when the farm manager spotted what was happening and halted proceedings as the knife was being raised to complete the job. Just Awesome was left a rig (a stallion with one testicle).

And if the vet wasn’t in enough trouble, Just Awesome was part-owned by Brian Agnew, who apart from owning Wakefield Stud in Scone, also happened to be one of Sydney’s leading litigation lawyers. The vet, and the farm, faced the prospect of a financial “gelding” as the stallion value of Just Awesome had – apparently – been considerably devalued. The case was settled out of court.

Just Awesome recovered from his “operation” quicker than those associated with him, and returned to racing in the spring. His best efforts in five starts were seconds in the Listed Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) at Flemington and the Group 3 Schillaci Stakes (1200m) at Caulfield. In all, he had eight starts as a rig before retiring to stud in 1997. Ironically, it was back to Queensland for the son of Last Tycoon as Fred Brown’s Glen Avon Stud, on the Darling Downs, took him on, despite the risk of a lower than normal fertility.

Thanks to Brown’s good management, Just Awesome’s physical limitations had little effect on his breeding capabilities. He served 56 mares in his first season, with 47 live foals resulting. The following year he had 48 foals from 68 matings. Unfortunately, Just Awesome’s luck ran out in the winter of 1998 when illness took his life. As so often happens, the stallion became a posthumous sensation. He sired six Stakes winners from those first two small crops, including the New Zealand Group 1 winner Sound The Alarm and the Group 2 Missile Stakes winner Pompeii.

My memory of the Just Awesome story was sparked by the results of the Ascot races in Perth last Saturday. The impressive juvenile winner on debut, Bronze Bullet (Ch g 2006, Markane- Smytzer’s Fury, by Rory’s Jester), is a son of Just Awesome’s half-brother Markane (B h 2000, by Red Ransom (USA)-Kew Gardens (FR), by Kenmare (FR)) who was retired a five start maiden, after a knee injury in 2004. The obvious person to snap up Markane for stud duties was Fred Brown, who immediately promoted the horse’s connection to Glen Avon’s sadly missed Just Awesome.

Then on Tuesday, Brian Mayfield-Smith produced a promising first start winner Tinking (B f 2005, Markane-Gold Anthem, by Made Of Gold (USA)) capped off a big four days for the young stallion. Tinkling, jointly owned by Tony Santic’s Emily Krstina (Aust) Pty Ltd Syndicate and Fred Brown, is a half-sister to Santic’s very promising Starspangledbanner (Ch c 2006, by Choisir), who impressively won the Inglis 2YO Classic (1000m) at Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day.

Markane, whose career under trainer David Hall and owner Tony Santic began promisingly with a second behind Scaredee Cat (now a promising young sire in New Zealand) in the 2002 Listed Debutant Stakes (900m) at Caulfield, served 77 and 74 mares in his first two seasons. The attraction of the Just Awesome link was working, and the numbers also were boosted by mares sent by Santic to Queensland, under a share arrangement with Brown.

The quality of the Markane foals were such that they were surprisingly popular as yearlings, selling for as much as $70,000 off a $4,400 service fee. Santic was so impressed that he sent 34 mares to the young stallion in his third season in 2006, boosting the horse’s harem to 107. In 2007, Brown sold Glen Avon, and Markane was moved to the nearby Eureka Stud, and his fee was raised to $5,500. Last year he covered 82 mares.

Tuesday’s very impressive debut winner at Sale, Tensig, has an interesting and topical international pedigree.

Tensig is a son of champion New Zealand stallion Zabeel (NZ) – pictured – from the imported Danehill mare Kerkira (IRE). The 3YO gelding, who scored a dominant win over 1400m, is trained by Rodney Douglas for prominent and prolific Melbourne owner Jonathan Munz.

Munz’s Pincecliffe Racing Syndicate paid a whopping $600,000 for Tensig, through the bid of agent and advisor Dean Hawthorn at the 2008 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Premier Yearling Sale from the draft of Beltara Stud.

It was the equal fourth highest price for a Zabeel yearling at the sale, which was topped by the $900,000 paid for a colt by Zabeel from La Quinta Gold by David Ellis of Te Akau Bloodstock. The colt races as the promising young stayer Heir Apparent. Heir Apparent, during the spring carnival, finished second in the Listed Geelong Classic (2200m, Geelong) before his ninth behind Monaco Consul in the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m, Flemington).

Tensig’s granddam Kotama, by 1985 Epsom Derby winner Shahrastani (by Nijinsky (CAN), was bred by The Aga Khan and won the Listed Leopardstown One Thousand Guineas Trial; she is a half-sister to Kasora (by Darshaan (GB)), the dam of the champion stayer and now exceptional young sire High Chapparal (by Sadler’s Wells (USA). Of course, High Chapparal, who shuttles to Windsor Park Stud, Cambridge, is the sire of the Derby winner Monaco Consul, and also the brilliant Group 1 Cox Plate winning colt So You Think.

The third dam of Tensig is Kozana (by Kris (GB)), the joint top filly in France in 1985, whose wins included the Group 2 Prix de Malleret at Longchamp, but her best performances were her second behind Rousillon in the 1985 Group 1 Prix du Moulin and third behind Rainbow Quest in the 1985 Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe.

The Zabeel-Danehill cross has provided the champion Hong Kong star Vengeance Of Rain (ex-Danelagh) and his high-class sister Group 1 AJC Oaks winning sister Dizelle, although Zabeel hasn’t covered Danehill mares in great numbers and certainly not the best of the Danehill daughters, who are generally based in Australia.

Tensig’s pedigree has a triple cross of Northern Dancer (4×4x5) and, of course, Danehill is inbred to Northern Dancer’s family.

By nature the Zabeel breed are late developers; the fact that Tensig, with his stout international pedigree, was able to debut with a win against some fast opposition over 1400m, gives owner Munz a lot to look forward to.

Few people would begrudge Munz a good horse after his considerable buying and breeding of horses in the last 10 years so without the racetrack results to match. His best runner in that period was the ill-fated Group 1 Champagne Stakes winner, Meurice (by Strategic).

View Tensig’s pedigree.

Life’s all about timing, and All American’s win in the Group 1 Emirates Stakes (1600m, Flemington) on November 7 was timely in that it came about the same time as the death of his sire Red Ransom, and it also ensured him a possible seat at the table of Arrowfield Stud stallion roster.

But was the timing right for Arrowfield?

Arrowfield Stud, in fact, is left with a dilemma. Retiring All American immediately, with nearly 10 months to the 2010 breeding season, obviously wasn’t an option for the owners of the horse, including Arrowfield as a major shareholder, but continuing to race him is risky, as we have seen from All American’s disappointing performance (11^th) in Saturday’s Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) at Ascot.

Every similar performance to his Railway flop in his autumn 2010 campaign will dilute the horse’s stallion value. Nobody will be more aware of that than Arrowfield supremo John Messara. All American will need to be handled with care.

I suspect that All American’s autumn campaign will be very select and that we won’t see him chasing Group 1 races for the sake of it, because that will be a very risky policy with a horse that already has a history of inconsistency that is of concern some broodmare owners.

All American needs a big track and a fast tempo to produce his best. A race like the Group 1 Doncaster Handicap (1600m, Randwick) is a perfect fit.

Breeding lines:

All American (b h 2005, Red Ransom (USA)-Milva (USA), by Strawberry Road)

Red Ransom (USA) (b h 1987, Roberto (USA)-Arabia (USA), by Damascus (USA))

I doubt there is a better value stallion in Australia than Danzero (by Danehill USA)).

The Arrowfield Stud stalwart, who stands in 2009 at a fee of only $22,000 (incl. GST), hit the headlines again when his sensational son Happy Zero (br g 2004, ex-Happy Love, by Canny Lad) won the Hong Kong Sprint Trial (1200m) at Sha Tin on Sunday.

This triumph comes after another son Niconero (b g 2001, ex-Dubai Lass, by Scenic (IRE)) won three Group 1 races in the 2008-09 season – to add to his career tally of five – and his impressive colt Extra Zero (b c 2006, ex-Extra Bubbly, by Bellotto (USA)) ran a bottler of a race for second behind Monaco Consul in the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) at Flemington.

Danzero, the 1994 Group 1 Golden Slipper winner, is the sire of more than 30 Stakes-winners worldwide, including the extraordinary juvenile Dance Hero (b g 2001, ex-Gypsy Dancer (NZ), by Dance Floor (USA)), who last week was voted by Herald Sun experts as the Australian 2YO of the decade.

Danzero is an ideal proven stallion for young mares to kick off their breeding career, but he’s not for everyone. Danzero, big and heavy with a boofy head (although he matured into an imposing horse), has his physical flaws, so he needs an attractive mare, maybe even light of bone, with some athleticism to achieve the right foal for the sales market.

Happy Zero’s dam, the precocious Stakes-placed Have Love (third 1995 Listed Gimcrack Stakes), was sold, in foal to Danzero, at the 2004 Inglis Australian Broodmare Sale for $140,000 to Leung Kai Fai. She produced a strapping colt, who was sold at the 2006 Inglis Easter Yearling Sale from the Widden Stud draft, to the Hong Kong-based trainer John Moore’s Surefire Limited for $425,000. (Happy Zero is pictured as a yearling).

It was an extraordinary price for a Danzero colt with a limited pedigree (one so thin that it normally wouldn’t make it to an Easter Yearling Sale) and a reflection of the colt’s quality. (View the pedigree page)

Danzero had only three yearlings in that Inglis sale and the $425,000 for the Have Love colt is the second highest price ever paid for a yearling by Danzero, who has had only three yearlings sell for more than $400,000 – in 2005, at Easter, a brown colt from the top producer Professionelle (who raced as Hoystar, a triple Stakes winner) sold to Norma Ingham for $400,000 and in 2008 at the Magic Millions Gold Coast, a filly from the fast filly Hustle Bustle sold for $450,000 to the bid of Lindsey Williams. That filly, named Better Choice, is unraced.

Obviously, Moore was attracted to Happy Zero for more than his pedigree shortfalls – four dams on the page and you need to go off the page to the fifth dam, the New Zealand Listed (1000m) winner Starophelia (by Beau Repaire), to find Happy Zero’s first direct female descendant to produce a Stakes winner. Starophelia produced trainer Meggsy Elkington’s tough staying colt Epidaurus (by Forearmed (GB)), winner of the 1970 VRC St Leger (2800m) when the race (now Listed) had a bit more clout that it does today, as it was probably rated at Group 1 level.

Moore also would have been attracted to the fact Happy Zero’s brother, Triumphant Unicorn (born in 2002), was already a successful horse in Hong Kong, winning four races at the time of the sale.

Happy Zero’s fourth dam, Petine (NZ) (by Persian Garden (GB)), is a half-sister the fine producer Mary (NZ), by Hermes (GB), who is best known as the dam of the outstanding half-brothers Cossack Prince (by Sir Tristram) and Cossack Warrior (by Bletchingly) – both multiple Group 2 winners and both placed in the Group 1 Caulfield Cup (2400m).

Happy Zero was an exceptionally good-looking colt, and very much in the image of his sire (view Danzero to see what I mean), although with a much more attractive head, which obviously appealed to Moore and his bloodstock advisers (a team that can include seriously good judges John Hutchinson and Alan Bell), who select very wisely for the Hong Kong market. Like most Danzero colts, he was a powerful unit, and gelding has been the making of him, as it is with most of the best Danzero colts, including his headliners Dance Hero, Fairway, Niconero and Hoystar.

The pedigree also has a wonderful mix of what has been great about Australian breeding in modern times – Danehill (USA) and Sir Tristram (IRE) (the sire of grand dam Madam Tristo) and a double cross 4×5 of Star Kingdom (IRE) through the dams of Danzero (Kaoru Star) and Have Love (Canny Lad).

Danzero, aged 18, is covering his 15^th book of mares in Scone after starting has career in 1995 at Chatswood Stud, Seymour, Victoria – as did his barn mate Flying Spur. Danzero’s stud fee peaked at $35,000 (inc. GST) in 2001 on the back of his brilliant Group 1 winning 3YOs Fairway and Danglissa, and it has fluctuated since. It is noticeable that his fertility as dropped a little, below 80 per cent (Ref: studbook.org.au) in 2007 and 2008, which is natural for a horse of his age. In 2008, his popularity was high as he covered 134 mares, his third highest number behind 167 (2004) and 158 (2005) in the wake of the deeds of Dance Hero.

Australian horse of the year Scenic Blast will miss Sunday’s $HK3 million (about $A430,000) Group 2 Cathay Pacific International Sprint Trial (1200m) at Sha Tin in Hong Kong because of lameness and – despite Jockey Club optimism – must be in doubt for the main event on next month.

The HKJC international racing manager, Mark Player, told the South China Morning Post that the horse’s foot problem had been causing West Australian trainer Danny Morton concern since Scenic Blast arrived at Sha Tin from Japan on October 17.

The paper’s Australian racing writer Alan Aitken reported that Scenic Blast (B or br g 5, Scenic (IRE)-Daughter’s Charm, by Delgado (USA)) was lame after working last Friday and, while he wasn’t lame after working on Tuesday, Morton was not totally satisfied with him.

Player said: “The horse has minor foot problems, not just here now but as a constant issue which has to be managed. On Tuesday, Danny wasn’t altogether happy with how the horse was moving when he went for him to stretch out up the straight, but after he worked (later in the week) he was happy again and that’s why he (originally) paid up for Sunday.”

However, on cooling down back at his quarantine stable, Scenic Blast did not seem right again to Morton, who called in the vets, and the sprinter was judged lame in his right (off) fore foot.

“Fortunately, the confident prognosis is that Scenic Blast will be right again for the Hong Kong Sprint,” Player told the SCMP. “We still have three weeks up our sleeve (to the $HK12 million Group 1 Cathay Pacific International Sprint, also 1200m, on December 13).”

Reports were that Scenic Blast had some issues after his win in the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot in England in June. He flopped in the Group 1 July Cup (1200m) at Newmarket in England three weeks later and in the Group 1 Sprinters Stakes (1200m) in Japan on October 4, although he suffered bad interference in that race.

Connections are chasing a $US 1million (about $A1.1 million) bonus for winning Group 1 races on three continents in the Global Sprint Challenge, of which the Hong Kong race is the final leg – his win in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at the start of the year set up the attempt.

Without Scenic Blast on Sunday, Hong Kong-based Australians hold the key to the Sprint Trial.

Australian-bred Sacred Kingdom (B g 6, Encosta De Lago-Courtroom Sweetie, by Zeditave), the world’s top-rated sprinter alongside Scenic Blast, will be ridden by Victorian Brett Prebble, who is on a roll.

“This is some race, so it won’t be any pushover, but the horse is flying,” Prebble told Aitken. Trainer Ricky Yiu was no less positive despite the gelding having his first run for five months.

“We missed the Sprinters Stakes in Tokyo only because of a shoeing problem, but that’s all that was and it is long past,” Yiu said. “Sacred Kingdom’s trial last week was outstanding  … he has a good draw, the hottest form jockey in town, and I think if he runs to even 80 per cent of what he can do, he will win this race.”

Prebble has had 10 winners (four, three and three) over the past three meetings and has shot clear in the Hong Kong jockeys’ premiership with 23 wins to reinforce his bid to dethrone South African Douglas Whyte, winner of the past nine premierships.

Whyte (10 wins) has had a slow start to the season that began in mid-September and is only fifth on the premiership list behind Prebble, apprentices Keith Yeung (15) and Matthew Chadwick (13), and Australian Darren Beadman (12).

Prebble rode Sacred Kingdom to win the Group 1 Krisflyer (1200m) in Singapore in May before finishing fifth in the Group 1 Golden Jubilee (1200m) at Royal Ascot in June. (Frenchman Gerald Mosse won the 2007 Cathay Pacific International Sprint on him.)

A two-meeting suspension accompanied Prebble’s treble at Happy Valley on Wednesday, but he does not serve it until the Sunday and Wednesday before the big race.

It is difficult to assess which of leading trainer John Moore’s team of four will provide the main danger to Sacred Kingdom – the Australian has last December’s International Sprint winner Inspiration (Mosse), another Group 1 winner Dim Sum (James Winks), the consistent placegetter One World (Weichong Marwing) and the emerging Happy Zero (Beadman) in the field.

Beadman is the No. 1 stable rider, but in recent weeks he has made the wrong choice and been beaten by mounts he rejected.

The Trial for the $HK16 million Group 1 International Mile is the other Sunday highlight, and the early international arrival, Eagle Mountain, trained by South African Mike De Kock, is in the field although he is likely to move up to the richer Cup (worth $HK20 million) next month.

The meeting at Ascot in Perth tomorrow will have a bearing on further invitations to Hong Kong. Connections of the Group 1 Railway Stakes (1600m) favourite Gold Salute and the well-fancied Ortensia want to go.

Australian sprinters All Silent and Apache Cat already are booked to travel. 

The Thoroughbred’s  Perth preview reveals the chances in the Quaddie legs and all other races at the big Railway Stakes meeting at Ascot on Saturday.

The best bets are in races two and seven, and we’ve found value in race six.

To find out what our form analyst is tipping CLICK HERE

Leading veterinarian Dr. Geoff Rankin has treated Belleluia’s injured back and hindquarters.

Eliza Park’s pre-trainer Sue Ellis had Dr. Rankin treat the filly after she arrived at Eliza Park on November 18 to spell for a month. Trainer Robbie Griffiths said that the filly definitely suffered some muscle damage when she slipped at the start before finishing fifth at Mornington last Saturday.

Dr. Rankin, who also specialises in acupuncture, found that Belleluia was very tight in the hamstring muscles. He was pleased with the way the muscles release on treatment and the filly has been turned out into a grassy paddock at Eliza Park.

Sue Ellis said that the filly will be on anti-inflammatory drugs for a few days to help her recover from her injuries. There should be no on-going issues with Belleluia’s back and hamstrings when she returns to work in four weeks.

Belleluia left the Cranbourne stable on November 18 to spell for a calendar month at Eliza Park.

I have organised for her to have treatment on her back and hindquarters before she is turned out into a paddock. If we don’t treat the soreness that she incurred from her slip at the start of her race at Mornington, we will be left with the same issues when she returns to work early in 2010.

I was very pleased with her first racing campaign – her win at Traralgon was impressive – and I believe she is an exciting filly with a good future. I look forward to having her back for an autumn campaign, and with a bit of spring grass and TLC at Eliza Park, she should return more mature, bigger and stronger.