Fabulous femmes Impulse Buy and Valeska Bale have set the scene for an enthralling battle in the $7500 to-the-winner Mepunga Oaks final (450m) at Warrnambool on Wednesday night.
Both were the star performers from last night’s two heats, with only ‘inches’ separating Impulse Buy (25.28sec) and Valeska Bale (25.30sec) on winning times.
Impulse Buy is prepared at Rowsley by former jockey Emily Azzopardi, 23, while Valeska Bale is trained at Avalon by Rebecca Gibbons, 33, who is enjoying a great run of success with husband Daniel – a former pro wrestler who went under the pseudonym, “Danny Psycho”.
‘Team Gibbons’ have rising star Titan Blazer, which has won 11 from 23 including five of his past six, in tonight’s $47,000 to-the-winner Group 2 SEN Track Warragul Cup. (Titan Blazer finished third in the G1 Silver Chief at The Meadows on New Year’s Day.)
Azzopardi and Gibbons are two of the brightest young female training prospects in Victoria.
Impulse Buy, which has won nine from 27 including five of her past eight, finished third in the G2 Bogie Leigh Futurity at Albion Park in Brisbane on December 23.
WATCH: Impulse Buy (1) was the fastest qualifier (25.28sec) in the Mepunga Oaks heats.
Valeska Bale has won eight from 34. Last month, she was a finalist in the G2 Laurels Classic at Sandown Park.
The Mepunga Oaks winner and runner-up receive a free ‘straw’ to stud dogs Mepunga Cruzer or Mepunga Blazer, with the winning connections having first selection.
And that would be a touch of irony for Azzopardi and her partner Matt Lanigan, 29, who specifically purchased Impulse Buy on ‘impulse’ for breeding purposes. They forked out $5000 for the bargain basement buy, which has already won $47,295.
WATCH: Valeska Bale semaphores a slick 25.30sec in a Mepunga Oaks heat.
