THURSDAY: July 29, 2021: THIRTY-SIX winners and a record $3.7m in prizemoney……it’s been a magnificent season for Hawkesbury’s leading trainer Brad Widdup.
Lightly-raced filly Eminencia ($12) took his 2020-21 earnings to almost double that of his previous best, last season’s $1,874,895, when she broke through at Wyong today.
Ridden by Sydney’s leading apprentice Tom Sherry, Eminencia held off the Chris Waller pair, Barrichello ($2.90) and the unlucky $2.60 favorite Cat D’Oro, in the 3YO Maiden Plate (1350m).
Eminencia was having her fifth start, and was Brad’s first winner for George Altomonte’s Corumbene Stud.
The well-bred I Am Invincible filly had been placed twice recently on her home track and sandwiched in between was a Newcastle failure on June 26, when RacingNSW stewards placed a warning on her racing manners after she attempted to buck momentarily in the early stages, and thereafter never travelled.
“That’s a real mystery,” Brad said this evening. “I don’t know what happened that day; she had never done that before.”
Coincidentally, Newcastle-trained Go Gazza also raced below expectations in the same race that day, and was another Wyong winner today.
Eminencia’s dam Emissary won three races, including two in town, and has a real connection to Randwick’s Group 1 staying feature, The Metropolitan.
Her dam Heart Ruler and granddam Born To Be Queen both won the race in 1997 and 1986 respectively.
Eminencia was Brad’s 174th career winner, and boosted his overall prizemoney tally this season to $3,714,370.
“It would have been nice to at least equal last season’s 41 winners, but we’ve had 71 placings on top of our 36 winners and it’s been a pretty good season,” he said.
“Obviously, it would have been terrific if Icebath had won either the Golden Eagle or Doncaster Mile or both.
“But that’s racing. They don’t hand Group 1s to you.”
Brad also reported Icebath, Adelong and Vulpine had all pulled up well after trialling at Royal Randwick on Tuesday morning.