Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Busselton trainer Barry Howlett’s sentimental decision to buy, sight unseen, a weanling filly in New Zealand in 2020 is paying handsome dividends.
The filly by the name of Brulee showed a touch of class when she scored an impressive victory in the $50,000 Group 3 Nova 93.7 Diamond Classic for three-year-old fillies at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
“The only reason we got her is that she is closely related to Jack Mac,” said Howlett, who had purchased that pacer in New Zealand as a weanling in 2015 and then prepared him for 18 starts in Western Australia for 16 wins and one second placing.
Jack Mac’s wins included the Group 1 Pearl Classic for two-year-olds and the Group 1 Golden Slipper at Gloucester Park in 2017 and the Pearl Classic for three-year-olds the following year before he fractured a pedal bone which cut short his brief but brilliant career with earnings of $285,973.
“I hadn’t seen Brulee, apart from on the internet, and I liked the look of her,” said Howlett. “I bid for her on the internet and was able to buy her for $6000.”
Brulee is by the New South Wales-bred star pacer Vincent and is the twelfth foal out of the New Zealand-bred mare Russian Rocket, who managed one placings from six starts before being retired.
Russian Rocket’s claim to fame was that her elder half-brother Marika had 36 starts for eleven wins, eight seconds and two thirds for earnings of $275,155. Marika’s wins included the Group 1 Sires Stakes for two-year-olds at Addington in May 2004 and the Group 1 New Zealand Two-Year-Old Championship at Alexandra Park a month later.
Jack Mac’s dam Matavutu won once from seven starts. She was out of Russianero, who also produced Rush Machine, whose second foal was Russian Rocket.
Brulee, who was making her fourth appearance at Gloucester Park, was a $19 chance in Friday night’s classic in which she began from the No. 6 barrier and was driven for the first time by Deni Roberts after Chris Lewis, Mitchell Miller and Kyle Symington had opted to drive other fillies in the race.
Polemarker Our Lady Jen, the $2.75 favourite, set the pace and Brulee settled down in eighth position before Roberts sent her forward with a three-wide burst approaching the bell. Brulee forged to the front 350m from home after the breeze horse Sweet Vivienne ($4.40) had taken the lead 200m earlier after the hard-pulling pacemaker Our Lady Jen began to weaken.
Brulee held on to win by a half-length from $7 chance Gliding Star, who had enjoyed a perfect passage in the one-out, one-back position. Fly To Fame ($16), who was sixth at the bell in the one-wide line, was badly hampered for room until the final few strides when she finished fast to be fourth.
Flametree, a $15 chance trained by Howlett, impressed in finishing strongly from eleventh at the bell to be third.
“It was a beautiful pick-up drive,” said Roberts. “Brulee is very green; she runs around a lot and doesn’t concentrate. But when I pulled her out, she did concentrate. I didn’t want to hit the front as quick as I did, but she was travelling so well and wanted to do it. Sometimes you need to go with them a bit. It was a tight finish, and I could hear them coming.”
Brulee now has earned $51,852 from three wins and nine placings from 16 starts, and Howlett said that her main mission this year would be contest the $150,000 WA Oaks on October 13.
Howlett will also set Flametree for the Oaks. Flametree has already earned $112,552 from seven wins and six placings from 16 starts.