Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
It was a wonderful repeat dose for Baskerville trainer Ryan Bell and owners Albert and Julie Walmsley when Kyle Symington landed talented young pacer Ma Petite Dame an impressive winner of the $125,000 APG Sales Classic for two-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Twelve months earlier Bell and the owners celebrated the win in this feature event with Copper Head Lady, who is out of Artistic Copper, whose first foal Some Copper Beach is the dam of Ma Petite Dame.
The Walmsleys paid $65,000 for Ma Petite Dame at the 2024 Perth APG yearling sale, and the filly now has earned $73,643 from a win and a second placing (beaten by a short head by Wishing Belle on debut at Gloucester Park on February 18.
On Friday night it was a case of Ma Petite Dame, the $1.40 favourite, gaining revenge when she set the pace and won by four metres from the $6.50 chance Wishing Belle, rating 1.57.4, the exact rate recorded by Copper Head Lady a year earlier.
Ma Petite Dame is showing all the signs of following in the footsteps of Some Copper Beach, who was a star two-year-old in 2019 when she had ten starts for five wins, two seconds and one third placing. She won the Gold Bracelet, finished second to Double Expresso in the Westbred Classic and was third behind Jaspervellabeach in the Golden Slipper, and was retired with a record of 39 starts for nine wins, six placings and $100,020.
“Ma Petite Dame has a bright future,” said Symington, who said the filly was more tractable than she was when she raced wide early and in the breeze before finishing second to Wishing Belle.
“At her previous start she was a bit keen and wanted to run the gate. Tonight, she was more relaxed and was able to cross to the front easily.
“When she got clear at her previous start and there were no horses around her, she switched off, and that’s all part of her learning. Tonight, when I pulled the plugs, she kicked clear and won comfortably.”