Five-year-old mare The Stylist (NZ) (Swiss Ace) is providing Stawell trainer Deanne Taylor with plenty of thrills and landed her fourth career victory when leading throughout to narrowly prevail in the Bendigo Gold Bracelet (1400m), with Bendigo the premier venue in Victoria on Saturday.
Given a peach of a ride by Jarrod Fry, The Stylist bounced straight to the front and withstood a late charge to land the spoils in the A$125,000 contest.
Taylor, who part-owns the mare, purchased the five-year-old after she didn’t measure up for Sydney trainer John O’Shea.
“My heart is still going. We knew there wasn’t much pace and she was basically it, so it was a matter of them having to catch her,” Taylor said.
“This is very exciting. I think the only time I have been more excited was when Time Tunnel won his maiden at Great Western.
“I suppose I can say this now because I’ve had her long enough, I paid $400 for this horse. It was on an online auction. She’d had a few issues – can’t put her in a box, she used to smash out of her tie-up stall. She’s always been a lovely ride though.”
Bred by Gerry Harvey’s NZ Thoroughbred Holdings, The Stylist is out of good producer Veva Girl, dam of Group Three winner De La Terre (NZ) (Reliable Man) and her Group One placed full sister Aalaalune, in addition to Malaysian stakes performer Black Thorn (NZ) (Thorn Park).
“All her family are black-type winners. She has it in her too,” Taylor said.
Winning Jockey Jarrod Fry said he had been confident he was in the right race on the $7 chance.
“I’ve had a lot of luck on this horse, winning four races. She won really well the other day (at Terang) and she went into that race without having had a trial,” Fry said.
“I was pretty confident that she was going to improve but stepping up in grade, she had to. I was confident a long way out. She still felt like there was more to give and once they came to her she really dug in.”
“This is a good example of Deanne’s work. A $400 reject from a bigger stable and wins a $125,000 race today.”
The Stylist has now won A$158,650 in prizemoney from her four wins and four placings and has good residual value.
