 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2008
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
 |
It's Ella saved the best 'til last. The last 50 metres of her event on Friday night, that is; the last 50 metres of her racetrack career.
Because it was that precise moment - after four years of being in training, dozens of miles along the beach, countless hours in the pool, and 53 trips to the races - that her troublesome near-side front leg said 'enough is enough'. Ricky May said he felt It's Ella wobble a quarter of a furlong from home...despite the fact that Foreal was still in hot pursuit, and not to mention the energy-sapping run she'd had to endure, It's Ella gritted her teeth and stayed in her gait to the line.
It's almost like she knew where the finish was too, as once she'd passed the post she let go and rolled into a gallop. Maybe it was because her owners were there to see her, perhaps she wanted to prove for one last time that she could start from a horror draw and still beat the best mares in commission; whichever, it was a performance that personified courage in every sense of the word.
On this occasion It's Ella didn't just blast out and take the lead like many would've expected. There were a couple drawn closer in than had their own plans and gunned out early, so much so that even main danger Foreal was beaten in the jostle for prominent positions, and It's Ella hadn't been any better off than three-wide before finally crossing to the pilot seat with a lap to travel. Foreal and Anthony Butt had kept her out there when May hade his move in front of the grandstand, actions which Butt had to justify to the stipes afterwards, so It's Ella had used a heck of a lot of petrol getting to the front.
At break-neck speed, with Foreal now beautifully slotted in the trail her and a dickey leg that was about to falter, It's Ella should've been a sitting duck. Should've been, but wasn't. "Frig she went good," May said as he hopped out of the cart, shaking his head in disbelief. "She just did that on her ear, and look at her - she's not even blowing."
The pair had been greeted back by trainers David and Catherine Butt, and although thrilled with the victory their concerns now rested solely on It's Ella's condition. She'd visibly been favouring the leg on her way back from the birdcage, and when David asked her to be walked briskly to the wash so he could see for himself, It's Ella was definitely tender and dipped even more noticeably in her action. "Yep, she's finished I'd say," Butt lamented. "The ol' leg's worn out. She's got a low bow in her leg, below the fetlock, which is one of the worst places they can go in the tendon. It's an injury she's had for a while and it flared up again, but she's one of those amazing mares who doesnt feel pain. It had gotten worse though, and she'd been pulling up sore - we've only swum her for the last fortnight."
Raced by Jim and Irene Holland together with Megan McLellan, wife of the mare's former trainer Brendon, It's Ella was spelled due to injury this time last year after taking out both of the big mares races at Addington. Sighted again in October, she managed another 11 outings in her comeback and took her win tally from 13 to 16 for nearly $300,000 in stakemoney. It was always the plan to retire her for good after this Friday'd NZ Breeders Stakes anyway, being in foal to Falcon Seelter - it's just become nesessary a week ahead of schedule.
So it's finally over for the super Washington VC mare. There's a saying that first impressions last, and It's Ella certainly made a decent one when winning on debut at Ascot Park in February three years ago. But for mine it's her last race that'll stick with me, because that is the night when It's Ella overcame all sorts of adversities to go out on the highest of notes. And had it not been for a freakish performance of Nick Off Holme on Cup Day, It's Ella would've been taking a national record with her...
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 30Jan08