Swettenham Stud

Well if ever a win was deserved then it was the win in very good style by Regally Red at Ballarat yesterday over 1600m on a very slow track.

The Court of Jewels filly from the St Covet mare Red Covet was the only filly in the field. She easily accounted for the Lee Freedman runner who had controlled the pace from barrier rise. Settling fourth she came out three wide on the turn and challenged the front runner at the 300m when both two year olds simply streaked away from the rest of the field.

The merit in her 1.5 length win was certainly franked when Summer Sapphire won the Fillies and Mares Maiden in similar time two races later.

Regally Red certainly had the form lines going into this Ballarat race. Her last start had seen her finally stepped up in distance when she took on a 1400m race in town. The race was a battle of tactics and Craig Williams on Tassology pocketed Regally Red back in last place coming to the turn and when he went Regally Red was left flat footed. It took her 200m to get her momentum up before hitting the line in solid fashion to go under 3.5 lengths. Tassology defeated Excelltastic who then went on to win impressively at Flemington on Saturday defeating Georgia’s Boy the favourite when they also streeted the opposition. So the form lines were very strong.

Regally Red has always shown above average ability. She had debuted with a quality second placing at Caulfield over 1100m coming from last and three wide in a small field. Second up she was dropped back to a 1000m at Flemington she was inconvenienced in the early stages and hit the line very well the last 50m to go under less than 2 lengths.

This time in work she resumed over 1100m with a good first up third at Bendigo making a sustained run from the back on a day that suited on pace runners. Her two runs leading into Sandown saw her get lost in two races over 1200m when she was allowed to settle too far back in slowly run events and never got into the races even though going under less than a length at Geelong running fourth.

Regally Red has now won $26,600 and will always be remembered as Court Of Jewel’s first winner. Hopefully she will now go on to gain further notoriety as the first city winner for Court of Jewel’s the regally bred son of Danehill from the famous Eight Carat family.

(IR)