\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Tayla Dyke<\/b>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
Co-trainers Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans will bid for stakes success at opposite ends of the country on Saturday, with representatives at both Flemington and the Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n
Their first chance is the in-form Madame Maserati (I Am Invincible) who will chase a fourth straight win when she tackles the Creswick Sprint Series Final (Listed, 1200m) at Flemington.<\/p>\n
The three-year-old has progressed through the grades this campaign, posting back-to-back Benchmark 64 wins, over 1103 metres at Kyneton and 1000 metres at Pakenham, and was most recently seen taking out a heat of the sprint series at Flemington on May 17. Following that victory, the filly was freshened with a view to Saturday\u2019s $175,000 Listed-level contest.<\/p>\n
Regular rider Logan Bates retains the ride and off the back of a freshen up and a jump out win, Yeomans believes that with the right conditions Madame Maserati is capable of securing an all-important black-type victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s great,\u201d Yeomans told ANZ News. \u201cOnce she won that heat we decided to target the final. We had the option of giving her a run in between, we had time, I think it was six or seven weeks in between, but we just selected to keep her confidence up and just trial her in between.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe trialled up really nicely, to be honest I couldn\u2019t fault her. She probably looks the best she\u2019s looked. She had a nice, on the bridle gallop on Tuesday with Logan Bates aboard, he knows her very well and gave her a glowing report.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s obviously the toughest race she\u2019s been in, there\u2019s a couple of nice fillies in it, but I think it\u2019s come down to about an eight horse field now and she has drawn well.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s going to have to produce a career best, but we do think she has improved. The wetter, the better for her, so if it stays in a soft range, that\u2019ll only enhance her chances. The goal is to run top three. Obviously, we\u2019re trying to win, but if she could run top three, that\u2019d be super.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Should the filly win the race, Yeomans said a potential trip to Adelaide for the Lightning Stakes (Listed, 1050m) at Morphettville on July 26 could be on the cards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf she were to run very well and we were happy with her, she could probably go to the two and three-year-old Lightning Stakes in three weeks\u2019 time in Adelaide. We will obviously be guided by her, but she\u2019s going really well and you don\u2019t like putting those fillies that are in good form in the paddock.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSaturday is her grand final, but she has options after that if she\u2019s going well. We\u2019ve well and truly set for [Saturday], but she\u2019s really tough and you know, she\u2019s not going to be a three year old for much longer, so it just makes sense to try and have another bite of the apple when it\u2019s there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bred by Sun Bloodstock, the daughter of I Am Invincible (Invincible Spirit) was purchased by the Kennewell and Yeomans team with Group 1 Bloodstock and Matt Houldsworth for a modest $70,000 from Widden Stud at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale, and has already amassed $148,875 in career earnings.<\/p>\n
Despite coming from a black-type family, out of Geelong Black Pearl Stakes (Listed, 1200m) winner Smart Coupe (Smart Missile) and from the family of three-time Group 1-winner Spirit Of Kingston (Bletchingly), Madame Maserati was purchased for a bargain price due to minor x-ray issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With yearlings by I Am Invincible averaging $520,850 in 2025 and having sold up to $3 million in recent years, Kennewell may have found his niche, bargain hunting for the lesser-wanted progeny the Yarraman Park flagbearer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taking the risk on Vinnie\u2019s progeny has paid off for Kennewell in the past, having purchased Group 1 placegetter and recently announced Oaklands Stud stallion I Am Unstoppable for a mere $65,000, and Group 1 winner Viddora (I Am Invincible) for $40,000 back in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLloyd\u2019s very good at [picking I Am Invincible\u2019s], he obviously had great success with Viddora before I came along, and then I Am Unstoppable was just getting going once I joined the team,\u201d Yeomans said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a few I Am Invincibles and I believe pretty much all of them would have at least won a race. Lloyd just knows the breed so well and obviously they\u2019re still all different, but often they can be quite similar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMadame Maserati, she\u2019s quite incorrect from the knees down. She\u2019s got quite wonky legs, and she did take a bit of managing as an early two-year-old. We thought we were going to get her to the races quite early, but she just kept feeling her legs and we had to be quite patient. But as she\u2019s gotten older, she\u2019s just battleheartened, she\u2019s really tough and now she\u2019s quite straightforward to train.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cI worked with some nice Vinnies at Ciaron\u2019s as well, Loving Gaby and some horses like that. They are all different, but Lloyd\u2019s just really keen to take a punt on one. If he likes it as a physical, when they\u2019re a little incorrect on x-rays or physically a little incorrect, he has faith in the breed, so it gives him faith to jump in and purchase horses that possibly everyone else is happy to pass on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The stable\u2019s only other runner for Saturday will be at the top end of the country, with honest mare Fortunate Kiss (Divine Prophet) set to line up in the Glasshouse Handicap (Listed, 1400m) at Sunshine Coast.<\/p>\n
The six-year-old has had two starts in Queensland this preparation, the most recent a luckless third placing in the Eye Liner Stakes (Listed, 1350m) at Ipswich, and Yeomans believes the mare is thriving in the sunshine state.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s great. She\u2019s been up in Queensland with Ross O\u2019Sullivan who works for us, and he\u2019s giving her glowing reports. She\u2019s much like Madame Maserati, she\u2019s a tough old thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe loves being a racehorse and loves going to work each day. She\u2019s away with Ross, one on one, she\u2019s the only horse he\u2019s got up there, we give them a five star treatment at the best of times, but being up there completely on her own, she\u2019s getting absolutely spoiled rotten.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rated a $19 chance with markets on Friday afternoon, Yeomans is confident the mare can run well above her odds in the 1400-metre event.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s just thriving up there, and I\u2019m not sure what odds she is now, but she was 30-1 or something, which I thought was outrageous. Ciaron Maher\u2019s horse was favourite, and I thought our horse beat it fair and square last start, so I think she\u2019s well over the odds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aware that she doesn\u2019t win out of turn, but she doesn\u2019t ever put in a bad run. So we\u2019re very, very happy with her and as I said, Ross couldn\u2019t be happier with her and with a little bit of luck she should be right up there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fortunate Kiss started her career with Daniel Bowman, and was purchased by the Kennewell Yeomans team with Group 1 Bloodstock and Ridgeport Holdings stable for $150,000 at the 2024 Magic Millions National Broodmare Sale.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe bought her in conjunction with Santo, a very, very good client of our stable, from the used mare sale, and the goal was to win a black-type race. We could have probably aimed the bar a bit lower with her and have won races with her, but the goal has been just to increase her value as a broodmare.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe is going very, very well, and I have no doubt if we just run her in a normal Saturday race in town, she would have won multiple races by now, but the goal is black type for her page, and she\u2019s well and truly knocking on the door and she really deserves it, so we\u2019re hoping tomorrow might be her day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Tayla Dyke Listen Co-trainers Lloyd Kennewell and Lucy Yeomans will bid for stakes success at opposite ends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":238089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-238088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-racing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114796383680405083","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}