Ten Bells has made a small syndicate of locals very happy with her recent performances, including Saturday’s triumph in the Tab Highway at Randwick on Everest Day over 1100 metres.
The 4-year-old mare by Nicconi out of Decibeel won her first Tab Highway at the juicy odds of $16 on August 21 and backed that win up with an $8 effort on the weekend.
The two highway wins have been separated by a 7th placing where she was just 1.74 lengths off them.
She now has 4 wins from 6 starts and prize money of $131,050.
The mare could have taken a place in the Kosciuszko and lined up for even more prizemoney with the best horses in country NSW fighting it out for $1,300,000 on the same day, however, an agreement wasn’t able to be struck.
Connections can expect that slot holders will be coming thick and fast for her for the 2022 running of the event.
The mare can certainly gallop. There is no doubt about that. She shares the same sire as Nature Strip in Nicconi. Nature Strip held off a wave of horses to claim the $15 million ‘The Everest’ later in the day.
Ten Bells crossing the line on Saturday to beat her rivals home.
Ten Bells recorded the second fastest final 600 metres of the day amongst some of the country’s finest thoroughbreds. The time 33.91. Nature Strip ran 33.75 for his final 600 metres, albeit over 1200 metres.
Ten Bells jumped from barrier 8 and landed in second place, just one spot off the rails, outside Boss Lady Rocks. At the 300-metre mark, Ten Bells let down and took the lead.
Part owner Nathan Schofield is yet to see her run in person, so have many of the others who make up the syndicate in Matty Minehan and Paddy Davis.
Nathan said, “A couple of slot holders called us and were thinking about putting her in the Kosciuszko, but the deal didn’t go through. We went back to the Tab Highway and won that. The trainer’s instructions were to be positive and go forward. She just kept finding and kicking and was strong through the line to win by .8 of a length.”
Nathan and the other owners were ecstatic with the win, even though they couldn’t be there on the day due to the city not allowing regional owners to attend until the state reaches 80 per cent vaccination rates.”
The syndicate will now talk to the jockey and the trainer to see what they think is next for the promising mare, with Nathan hoping she can find a bit more distance.
A path to the Country Championships could be on the horizon.
Nathan has owned a number of horses in the past but puts a lot of credit down to Scott Henman who picked the horse on her breeding. Nathan said, “She is a class above. Most of the ones I’ve had have been good in their own way, some great country horses. If you could bottle the feeling you get when you are in front and it has one hundred to go, it would be worth a million bucks, It could be at Harden, Gundagai. It doesn’t matter where it is.”
Paddy Davis joked, “Half of Harden got a little bit richer out of Saturday. It would have been great thrill to be there, but it was a great thrill at home. If we had been there, we would have kicked the fence down.”
Paddy thought that as soon as she jumped and landed where she did, she was a good chance.
“She has one of the best sprints. At full pace she still has an extra sprint in her. They came at the end but about 50 metres out she went again. With all of those quality big sprinters on the day it just give you a bit of confidence to break into that 33 (for the final 600).”
Ten Bells in the mounting yard on Saturday.
Matty said, “She was the pick of the yard on the day. Everyone is happy with the trainer.”
Paddy said, “He is real patient with her, and we leave him alone to do what he wants with her. We watch races and have a punt, but we don’t know how to present a horse. Being around animals our whole lives you can tell when one is a bit special. When I first saw her at the stable, I thought we will keep her as a breeder before she even had a race. We said this one isn’t going anywhere”
Blaike McDougall rode her in a trial at Goulburn and told the syndicate members that they may have something special.
