by Adam Hamilton
One of Cran Dalgety’s best horses is a filly he’s never seen and is based in a different country.
Dalgety owns a half-share in exciting Victorian filly Joyful, who is $1.15 favourite to win Saturday night’s $130,000 Group 1 Vicbred 2YO fillies’ final at Melton.
It means the colourful Kiwi will be awake to see in the New Year, hopefully cracking open a beer to celebrate, with Joyful’s race scheduled for 11.43pm NZ time.
How Dalgety’s involvement came about is a terrific story.
“She’s an Alabar filly and didn’t go through the sale because she got colic and had a metre of intestine removed just before it,” he said.
“I’m friends with Cam Brown, who works for Harness Racing Australia, and he got offered the filly to lease with an option to buy by Brett Coffey (from Alabar).
“Cam asked if I wanted to go halves and train her. I thought about bringing her across to NZ, but it sounded a bit of overs until we knew if she had any ability.”
Joyful went to Brent Lilley’s stable where she showed glimpses of talent, but not enough for Dalgety and Brown to take up the option of buying her for $30,000.
“Cam rang Brett to say we’d send her back to them, but the timing wasn’t right for the breeding season and he said Alabar would probably give her to Emma (Stewart) and Clayton (Tonkin) to have a try,” Dalgety explained.
“One thing led to another, we decided to stay in and now she’s won four of four with Emma and Clayton.
“We took up that option and bought her the other day.”
Effectively, Joyful paid for herself with earnings of $33,240 in those four runs for the new barn.
“I feel a bit for ‘Lil’ because we’re good mates, but these things happen sometimes. Emma and Clayton have certainly found the key to her,” Dalgety said.
“She looks great and she’s racing great.
“It’s a bit hard for me to line-up the form, but I’m buoyed by the fact Mark Pitt (stable driver) has opted to stick with her in the final when the stable has four runners.”
First prize on Saturday night is $65,000.
“It’s a bit of a thrill really. I doubt Emma and Clayton would even know I’ve got a share in her,” Dalgety laughed.
Joyful is one of two fillies with a strong Kiwi connection which Stewart and Tonkin train in Vicbred finals.
The other is Stee Dolan’s high-class three-year-old filly Amore Vita, who is out to defend the Vicbred crown she won at two when in the care of Nathan Purdon.
After racing a tad below her best in the back half of the year through a nine-race losing streak, Amore Vita showed she was back firing at the right time with a powerhouse Vicbred semi-final win last Friday night.
She beat Encipher to win last year’s final, but that filly has gone to another level since with eight wins from nine starts this year.
Encipher is $1.25 favourite from the pole with Amore Vita a clear $5.50 second elect from barrier three.