 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 2005
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| Molly Darling upsets Mainland Banner |
Molly Darling simply out-toughed the favourite Mainland Banner, and did it on her merits too, being left three wide and parked outside her over the last 800 metres before crossing the finish line half a length clear in a brilliant 1:57.8 mile rate. Absolutely Brilliant speared between runners late in the piece to grab third, albeit six lengths away, and for good measure Christian Cullen's only other representative in the Group 1 event (Kamwood Cully) ran fifth.
Molly Darling's part-owner, trainer and driver Brent Mangos was actually quite humble afterwards, having inflicted the first defeat on Mainland Banner in her eight-start career. "Horses just can't keep winning all the time," he said. "So someone's got to beat them; I'm just lucky that on this occasion it was me. But when Molly Darling's right, she's very, very good. In fact I don't think there is anything between her, Mainland Banner and Foreal," he said.
For Mangos it has been a long, hard road to get Molly Darling back to where she is now, but even if the fickle harness racing public seemed to lose faith, he didn't. The hiccups started after Molly Darling's trip to Sydney in February for the NSW Oaks Prelude and Final, which were the filly's first racetrack appearances since she won the Breeders' Crown Final in Bendigo last August. "Going to Sydney gutted her," he said. "She was probably only eighty percent ready when she went, and afer two big trips and the heat over there she had lost a lot of weight by the time she got home. "So I just backed off, and didn't rush her. That is why I missed the Great Northern Oaks and Sires' Stakes heats - so that we could specifically target these two events in Christchurch. I think she turned the corner the night she won in Auckland prior to coming down for the Oaks, because although she didn't beat much that night she felt like she was starting to come right. And I didn't do a lot with her in the week leading up to the Nevele R Final, but she'd felt good all week at Catherine and David Butt's and never left an oat. I wish the Oaks was next week now, because she just feels that good again."
Molly Darling is raced by Mangos in partnership with Scott Plant, Warren Oliver and Brian Hewes. You couldn't meet a more enthusiastic bunch of horse owners, but over the next few months there are some serious decisions to be made with regards to Molly Darling's future. After a fillies' and mares' event in Auckland on June 10, Molly Darling will either stay here for a heat of the Breeders' Crown on July 15 or cross the Tasman for the Australian Oaks. "Those two races are on the same night," Mangos said. "After that we may well send her to America, and lease her to someone over there for eighteen months or so. It's just that there is not a lot for her here as a 4-year-old mare. She might measure up to the good ones as a five or 6-year-old, but in the meantime she could win a lot of money in the States - and come home with a quick mile time. "It's all about keeping her happy, because if horses are happy they go good - especially mares."
Credit: John Robinson writing in HRWeekly 25May05