Former northerner Diamond Girl announced her arrival on the South Island scene with a remarkable front-running performance in Saturday’s $50,000 Shoe Clinic Handicap (1400m) at Ascot Park.
The daughter of Rock ‘n’ Pop began her career in the Ruakaka stable of Chris Gibbs, for whom she recorded four wins and six placings between 2020 and August of this year.
Bought by her new connections for just $1,400 on Gavelhouse.com in early September, Diamond Girl is now trained by John Blackadder at Rangiora and began her southern career with unplaced finishes at Riccarton on November 11 and Cromwell on December 3. But the seven-year-old turned her form around in spectacular style on Saturday.
Ridden by northern apprentice Kendra Bakker, Diamond Girl jumped from the outside gate and rolled forward to take the lead in the early stages of the race. But then she kept on rolling, opening up a margin of at least eight lengths coming down the side of the track.
Those efforts began to take their toll after rounding the home turn, and Henry Hubber and The Good Shepherd rapidly ate into Diamond Girl’s margin with plenty of the Ascot Park straight remaining.
But Diamond Girl fought for all she was worth, winning over the bumper Ascot Park crowd as she bravely turned back the challengers and clung on to win by half a length.
Blackadder was delighted with the result and paid tribute to Bakker, who recorded the second win of her riding career and had never previously ridden in the South Island.
“That was quite a performance,” Blackadder said. “It probably wasn’t really our plan to go out to as big a lead as that, but Kendra came back and said she’d never ridden a horse that fast. It was either going to be a brilliant ride or something not quite so good, but it worked out really well in the end.
“I’m very pleased for Kendra. She hadn’t ridden down south before and travelled a long way for just that one ride, so it’s good that her commitment was rewarded with that result.
“This mare had a reasonable record in the north before she came down to us, and she’s off to a good start down here with this win. Some of the owners are from Kurow, so I think the Kurow Cup (1400m, December 30) might be a nice target to work towards.”
Diamond Girl earned $28,750 with Saturday’s heroics, lifting her career earnings to $113,769 from a 28-start career that has produced five wins and six placings.
A front-running formula also paid dividends in Saturday’s other Ascot Park feature, the $50,000 Tim Yeo Contracting Southland Crystals (2200m).
The race was won for the second year in a row by Riviera Rock, who led all the way in the hands of jockey Brandon May. The nine-year-old is trained and part-owned by Riverton’s Graham Eade, and his 64-start career has produced seven wins, 19 placings and $248,300 in stakes.