Plenty of Pride and Passion

In foal to Burgundy (Redoute's Choice), and able to race until the end of February, Pride And Passion (5 m Encosta De Lago - Calaway Gal, by Clang) recorded her second win this time in when getting clear late in the Bull4U Handicap Sprint (Benchmark 65 1300m) on Waitangi Day, Feb. 6, at Tauherenikau.

Under jockey Matt Cameron, Pride and Passion travelled kindly in the trail after showing to be composed in her preliminary but had to wait until late in the piece for a gap to come her way. Cameron tried on a couple of occasions inside the final 400 metres to extricate the mare and was not until the 100m that she was able to lengthen.

At only her ninth start, after having had two bone chip operations limit her career, Pride and Passion gave the indication of knowing her job and she displayed a nice mixture of determination and ability in the performance.

Breaking 1:17 for the 1300 metres was a good gallop and she returned rewarding odds of $6.30 & $3.00 in beating a small but select field by half a length.

On tour to strap the mare, stable rep Tommy Hazlett said: “She travelled well, Matt gave her a beautiful ride, waited for the gap to open and when it presented itself she went through it nicely”.

Te Akau principal David Ellis purchased Pride and Passion at the 2010 Magic Millions Sale on the Gold Coast for $280,000. Her dam, Calaway Gal, won the 2002 Golden Slipper (Gr. 1, 1200m) in the hands of jockey Scott Seamer.

Calaway Gal covered the six furlongs (1200m) in 1:08.81 and in the process lowered the 1993 race record set by Bint Marscay (Marscay), 1:08.88. The ‘tough and gutsy' Queensland filly, trained by Bruce Brown at Doomben, Calaway Gal had a record a five wins from seven starts following her victory in the A$2.5m feature for two-year-olds and earned stakes of $1,797,230.

Following the fresh-up win by Pride and Passion on Dec. 23 at New Plymouth, Te Akau trainer Jason Bridgman said: “She and Burgundy were the pick of them as young horses. She was the best filly and he was the best colt, and now they're in foal.

“It is a fantastic result for the patient owners that have given her the time she needed after going amiss and requiring surgery to remove bone chips, on a couple of occasions. She always showed a tremendous amount of ability in training and the owners are finally rewarded.

“Because of unsoundness through her spring preparation it was decided to put her in foal and that we would then try and get what we could for the remainder of her racing career. We've had a bit of luck and she has been able to win quite well, in what is a very satisfying result."

Pride and Passion owners are Christopher Grace, Alan Abel ONZM and Christine Abel, Trevor Beyer, Lance & Lee Perry and Judith Ray.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz