The victory of Seguimientos at Launceston last Wednesday and the associated $20,000 TASBRED bonus comes at an important time for owner and breeder Ricky Polley, who hopes it is a sign of good things to come after a tough couple of months.
The Sorell-based breeder knows plenty about the ups and downs of the thoroughbred caper, but the end of 2019 has been particularly testing.
Firstly, he lost his Devonport Cup aspirant Datuk Zadragon in an accident on the way to the races and then he lost one of his broodmares, followed by the death of a promising 2-year-old filly by boom sire Needs Further out of Listed winner Testamarriage.
But Polley’s fortune took a turn for the better last Wednesday when Seguimientos secured a thrilling maiden victory for Brighton trainer John Luttrell and jockey Rose Pearson in a 1420m maiden.
The homebred Wordsmith filly picked up $10,625 for the win plus the full $20,000 to Polley as her breeder and owner.
“It’s like winning three races really, hopefully, I can pay some bills now,” Polley said. “It was terrific, we were rapt with that, but we needed it though.”
It was Seguimientos’ fifth start, but while she took a while to get the win on the board, she had been competitive through her previous four starts.
“She’s run really well. She was a bit unlucky there once or twice and she was never far off them. We knew she had a win in her very shortly and so we stepped her up a little bit because she was a bit dour last time,” he said.
“We tried her over the 1400m and she ran that really well. She’s a nice horse, a nice quiet little thing.”
After freshening her up with a four-day spell in the paddock, a 1400m Class 1 race at Launceston on January 4 is her next assignment with Polley hoping is she measures up, she can graduate to the Thousand Guineas at the same track over 1600m on January 22.
“If you can run a bit of ground as a 3-year-old, you are half-way there. They are good races those fillies races,” Polley said. “It’s a bit hard to find lead-up races, especially for a fillies Guineas race though.”
He revealed jockey Mehmet Ulicinar was behind the naming of Seguimientos, with a reference to her having an ‘evil eye’ but he’s not sure the Spanish translation of the word, ‘tracking’ holds up.
Polley raced Seguimientos’s dam, Primrose Bay, who showed a fair bit of talent winning her maiden by 6.5l at Hobart.
“She only had about four starts and she was good. We were looking at some good races and she went bad in a trial. She had a joint problem and so she was retired,” he said.
Primrose Bay has also produced two other winners by Wordsmith in the recent Devonport winner Kepta and her full brother Copperhead Road.
A 2-year-old full brother to that trio is showing Polley some promise at home, while Primrose Bay is now in foal to Toorak Toff.
Among the seven or so other broodmares on the farm is Rising Art, the dam of 2016 Launceston and Hobart Cup winner Up Cups.
“She looks like a 5-year-old, she’s good,” he said.
“She’s got a Wordsmith colt with her now. He’s a really nice type. He could be another Up Cups. As long as he doesn’t have any problems, he’s a really nice type.”