Pretty is fast becoming Sydney’s unluckiest racehorse after another costly defeat as favorite at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
But Ruby Tuesday’s large group of owners were understandably pleased with the popular mare’s quick victory in the TAB Handicap (1350m) at Rosehill Gardens on Saturday.
Ruby Tuesday’s rider, star apprentice Tyler Schiller, wore the signature colors of white, pink ribbon and sleeves, white stitching, hoop cap and white pom pom, with the mare’s ownership group donating 10 percent of the prize money she earns to breast cancer research. breast.
Ruby Tuesday, trained by Gary Portelli, took her career earnings to exactly $350,000, which equates to at least $35,000 donated to charity.
The Ruby Tuesday story is a wonderful advertisement for racing, but it did nothing to ease the pain of the favorite backers.
For the second time this year at Rosehill, Frumos was hopelessly held back for a run and probably should have won.
Beautiful, trained by Chris Waller, was the $3.60 favorite but went to the line unextended under jockey Kerrin McEvoy to finish sixth, just a length and a half behind the winner.
The race was a tale of woe for the Waller stable as luck deserted the three runners, with Bella Rouge finishing fourth and Thalassophile eighth.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Waller stable representative Charlie Duckworth.
“We had three runners who didn’t have much luck at all.
“With Bella Rouge we had the option to go forward but unfortunately she didn’t have the tactical speed to get into a good position and she still ran really well.
“In the end, the other two basically had barrier tests. Thalassophile is going incredibly well and Tommy (Berry, jockey) said he must have been hard to watch for the stable – and he wasn’t talking about Handsome.”
Duckworth said jockey Kerrin McEvoy was “literally repeating the same thing Tommy said” when asked to comment on Frumos’ defeat.
“Kerrin said he just needed an ounce of luck,” Duckworth said.
“He said if the mare got half a run, he had so much horse under him that he would have powered through the gap, but he didn’t get an inch.
“Sydney is incredibly competitive and I know very well that if I went there I wouldn’t let the favorite out of the barrier if I didn’t have to, that simple.
“People can blame the person in the back, but forget that there are 10 other people who want to be beaten.”
Racing NSW stewards worried McEvoy about his tactics on Frumos, but it was evident from barrier 1 that horse and rider were left with little room to manoeuvre.
“Fun got off to a good start and found a spot where he was comfortable three pairs down the rail,” explained McEvoy.
“I traveled nicely and at 600m and 400m when the race started to develop I looked for options. I just needed a bit of luck, but I couldn’t find any place.”
Racing NSW acting chief steward Tom Moxon asked McEvoy if he had any opportunity earlier in the race to position Frumos off the rail, with the jockey replying: “I don’t think so.”
“Mirra View just kept getting better and I was always on that mare’s heels,” he said.
“I guess I was kept in that position.”
While McEvoy continued to look for a run on Frumos, Ruby Tuesday ($15) finished strongly to beat Mirra View ($11) right on the line to score by a short head, Our Modena ($15) at a third distance.
Portelli’s stable representative James Fathers said Ruby’s win on Tuesday was very good given the mare was slow out of the barriers.
“Ruby Tuesday is known for being on speed when she’s at her best,” Fathers said.
“But when he missed the start a little bit, Tyler didn’t panic and, my God, he came on strong late.
“It’s a fantastic win for a huge group, especially as it’s a charity horse. 10% of all awards and training fees go to breast cancer research, a cause that is close to our hearts.”
Ruby Tuesday marked her seventh win from 28 starts and Portelli could try to win some black with the six-year-old mare.
“We’re going to keep bringing it up the ranks and try to keep winning to get as much money as possible for the foundation,” Fathers said.
“The stable has flown, this is our sixth winner in the last 10 days. We had one winner in the city last night and five metropolitan winners last week.”
Originally published as More bad luck for Handsome at Rosehill in another tough watch for punters