Chris Waller's Newcastle Gold Cup hopes may have been dashed when Kelinni was scratched on Thursday morning, but Sydney's leading trainer picked up a handy consolation prize.
Photo by Racing and Sports
Four-year-old mare Nocturnelle grabbed a narrow win in the listed Patinack Farm Tibbie Stakes (1400m) under a perfect ride from Glyn Schofield, taking full advantage of a luckless run from hot favourite Miss Stellabelle.
She finished a gallant fourth after being galloped on, but Nocturnelle avoided trouble after an uncharacteristically clean jump at the barriers and let down impressively to hold out a rails-running New Beginning. Ron Quinton's Irish Dream fleshed out the minor placings.
“She's a work in progress, she's normally quite uptight and worked up before her run and as you saw today she was much more calm and collected and that obviously transformed into performance,” Schofield said.
“She got that little bit of luck and she accelerated into the gap really well and was never in doubt.
“Sometimes they need that confidence to be happy with what they're doing and that's what she's got now.”
It was Waller's second winner for the day after Heart Testa's debut win, and Nocturnelle's fifth salute in 11 starts.
“She's a lightly raced filly and I think there's a lot ahead for her,” stable representative Peter Muscutt said.
“She is a model of consistency and just rewards today in a listed race for that consistency.
“She can be a difficult ride in that she can be a little bit tardy out of the barriers but she jumped on terms today and he had her perfectly positioned.
“Glyn was held up a little bit himself and that probably helped him and she finished off the race really well.”
