AMERETTO is a mare who has given Bathurst owners Ryan and Ashlee Grives plenty of joy over the years, but on Saturday night she finally delivered them a Group 1 win.
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While the six-year-old has long been a consistent performer at Group level, it took until her 66th career start to salute in a major feature.
But it was certainly worth the wait.
She charged down the home straight at Melton in the $100,000 Benstud Queen of the Pacific (2,760 metres) to beat $2.60 favourite Berisari by 5.4m.
Ryan Grives, who owns the horse with his mother Tracey, was on hand with his wife and Ameretto’s former trainer-driver Ashlee to watch the race unfold.
Ashlee Grives was delighted to be presented with the trophy after watching trainer-driver Kerryn Manning produce another masterful display in the gig.
“It’s such a thrill and such a relief for her. She’s been such a great mare and you know, we’ve just never had the luck in the big ones,” Ashlee Grives said.
“She either did things on her own accord or just didn’t get any luck – tonight she got the luck, Kerryn drove her perfect and she certainly deserves that win.”
After placing seventh a week earlier in the Angelique Club Cup – contacting the pegs after leading on the bell – some had questioned Ameretto’s form.
But Grives said she had no doubts and when the Million Dollar Cam x Eyes Of Courage mare drew barrier one for the feature, it further boosted her confidence.
“We knew she had good gate speed and she certainly had options from there [barrier one]. Kez was obviously worried how much she fired up last week and it probably made the decision a bit easier to let Berisari go when the pressure came and it just all worked out,” she said.
“We were confident. Kerryn and Grant are great judges and they said they tried a bit of a kinder bit on her and she certainly took advantage of that one, so they went back to normal.
“We knew they’d have her spot on, it was just a matter of hopefully her manners coming through and everything paid off.”
Using Ameretto’s gate speed, Manning took the lead after the green light was given at the headquarters of harness racing in Victoria.
But Berisari – who was chasing her fifth win in six starts – charged forward three wide and Manning was happy enough to hand up the lead to the favourite.
Ameretto sat on the favourite’s back as she led the way and as the bell sounded, was 2m off the pace and travelling well.
It looked likely that Manning would wait for the sprint lane to unleash Ameretto, but instead she pulled off the pegs and found space between Berisari and Glenferrie Blade.
Ameretto hit the front with 100m to go and pulled away from her rivals, getting home in a 27.5 seconds final sectional. It was the 26th and biggest win of her career thus far.
“She deserved it more than any horse I think, she’s come close so many times and she’s finally done it,” Manning said. “To repay Ash for sending her down, really good.
“She seems really well, she’s probably looking as good as I’ve ever had her and she’s feeling as good and eating as good.”