Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Veteran trainer Kevin Nolan, who is now involved in harness racing as a hobby, landed his first Gloucester Park winner for eleven years when Aldo Cortopassi drove Blazin Beauty to victory in the Summit Bloodstock Pace on Tuesday evening.
Nolan’s previous city winner was Our Universal Ruler, who was successful in a C1-C4 1700m event in May 2011.
Blazin Beauty, a four-year-old mare by American sire Pet Rock, was a $34 outsider from barrier No. 3, but her victory was celebrated by some astute punters who snapped up the handsome $81 odds on the fixed market.
Blazin Beauty, who had been unplaced at her first two starts in WA, began speedily but was unable to wrest the early lead from the odds-on favourite Valhalla Miss before gaining the perfect trail in the one-out, one-back position. She took the lead with 120m to travel and held on to defeat the $151 outsider Our Glowing Star, who finished strongly from last at the bell.
The 72-year-old Nolan, who had won two races at Pinjarra earlier this year with another four-year-old Pet Rock mare Maddy Rocks, was not surprised at Blazin Beauty’s win, indicating that she went into the race with a good record of 38 starts for six wins and 11 placings.
Blazin Beauty, owned by Guy Barbuto, had won twice at Mildura in March this year after winning four times at Penrith last year. She gave a sample of her class when she finished a close third behind Sioux Rainbow in the Group 2 Raith Memorial for three-year-old fillies at Menangle in January 2021, when the winner covered the 1609m in 1.52.7.
Two months later Blazin Beauty finished second in the Group 3 Go Girlfriend Pace at Menangle when the winner, the six-year-old mare Semi Sensation ran the 1609m in 1.52.4.
Nolan said that Blazin Beauty had thrived on his training routine of swimming her for 15 minutes every day in the Byford pool as well as an occasional hoppled run.
Nolan, who prepared Grecian Fella when he finished third to Make The Rules in the Howard Porter Memorial at Gloucester Park in October 1999, also enjoyed considerable success with Rudlan, a pacer he bred, owned and trained who earned $86,360 from 11 wins and ten placings from 40 starts in the 1990s.
Rudlan’s most notable victories were in the State Sires Series final for four-year-old horses and geldings in April 1996 and the Christmas Gift in December 1996.