No matter what Divided House does from now on, trainer Cliff Brown said it would be just a bonus, as she counts down her days as a racehorse and gets ready for another noble one very soon.
Win or lose this Sunday or at any of the other next handful of starts she may have, Divided House will be heading to Australia shortly after to begin a new chapter of her life as a broodmare.
“She is going back to Australia in June or July. Not sure yet where but it will be in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales,” said Brown.
“She’s been a great mare to us and she is ready to become a mum.”
To the Victorian handler, the I Am Invincible mare out of the Zoffany dam Boston may not have reached the pinnacle of racing at Kranji, but he wished he had a barn full of horses like her.
An impressive winner at her last start in a Polytrack race over 1200m, Divided House having another shot at the same trip and surface but is rising in grade from BM74 to BM83, the highest level she has ever competed at, bar her one foray at Group level in the Group 2 Stewards’ Cup (1400m) last year.
She beat one home in the first Leg of the Singapore Four-Year-Old Challenge (won by Titanium), clearly showing her limitations on that day, but the lightly-raced galloper has bounced back with two wins in six subsequent starts.
Brown is aware Divided House is no world-beater, but remained proud nonetheless of her achievements, which he hoped she could still pad up before the breeding barn beckons. With last-start winning partner Michael Rodd suspended (besides he cannot ride at 53.5kgs), it is A’Isisuhairi Kasim who fills in in Sunday’s BM63 event.
“Divided House is in good form. She is fine and has pulled up well after her last win,” said Brown.
“She is up in grade this Sunday and Harry will ride her. It’s one of her biggest tests, though she did run in the Stewards’ Cup last year, but I hope she runs well.
“She’s been a fantastic mare for her owners and myself. She doesn’t race a lot but she’s already won more than $300,000 in prizemoney.
“Any trainer would love to have a stable full of horses like her. She is an honest mare and it’s good for the owners that she is ready to go to the next stage of her life.”
