\n\t\t\t\t\tBy Trevor Marshallsea<\/b>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Listen<\/p>\n
A little mare who was too unfashionable for a yearling sale and who\u2019s recovered from an injury you\u2019d want like a hole in the head will chase top-tier glory while seeking to extend a hot record for females in the Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) this Saturday.<\/p>\n
Niance (Swiss Ace) might also be on trial for a slot in the $20 million The Everest (Gr 1, 1200m) when she contests a mouth-watering edition of the Moir, striving to give Grahame Begg his second success in the race, and his first in 22 years.<\/p>\n
Bred by Gerry Harvey\u2019s New Zealand holdings, and majority sold to syndicators Ace Bloodstock, Niance returns to racing looking to continue her rise through three recent stakes wins with an elite success that would crown her value as a broodmare.<\/p>\n
The lightly-raced six-year-old is from the Grahame Begg stable, which is a major tick in itself these days, with the Cranbourne trainer being one of the form conditioners in the country at present.<\/p>\n
Begg, who has some 95 horses on his books, completed 2024-25 with 69 winners at the keen strike rate of 26.4 per cent, with ten stakes victories. It was 37 more winners than in his previous season, with only 56 more starters.<\/p>\n
This season (as of Wednesday), seven of his 20 runners have won \u2013 and four of his past six \u2013 including last Saturday\u2019s Cockram Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m) scorer Magic Time (Hellbent), already a Group 1-winning mare from the stable.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood management I guess,\u201d Begg quipped, when asked for a reason. \u201cBut it is nice to have it all come together.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having prepared Niance for her first-up test with two jump-outs and a barrier trial, Begg is confident she can continue a trajectory that in little more than a year has taken her through four wins, from mares\u2019 Benchmark 78 grade to Group 3 success.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d be a little more confident had she not been cruelled at the barrier draw for what looks a classic edition of the Moir, but says Niance is ready to acquit herself well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were only two marbles left at the barrier draw when her name came up \u2013 12 and 13,\u201d he said with a wry laugh. \u201cWe knew we were up against it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Niance \u2013 who should jump from gate 11 once the emergency comes out \u2013 was a $4.40 equal favourite on Wednesday for her first trip to Moonee Valley, alongside last-start course and distance winner Baraqiel (Snitzel).<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m reasonably confident she\u2019ll run very well for us,\u201d Begg told ANZ News.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Valley is a new thing for her, but there\u2019s abundant speed in the race. She\u2019s just going to need a bit of luck from the barrier draw. She\u2019ll probably just be a little bit off them in the run.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very good field \u2013 they don\u2019t give away Group 1s \u2013 but she\u2019s got a great fresh record, and that\u2019ll stand her in good stead,\u201d Begg said of the mare who\u2019s won four from four first-up.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s certainly got to take the next step, but every time we\u2019ve raised the bar with her, she\u2019s put her hand up. Plus, she\u2019s good at 1000 metres.\u201d<\/p>\n
The possibility of rain is forecast for Thursday, and with three wins from five starts on soft going, Begg believes his mare will be in the race up to her ears.<\/p>\n
Coincidentally, that\u2019s where the troubles emerged that put a check on her meteoric progress, and that have helped to make her a lightly-raced six-year-old, with seven wins from 11 starts.<\/p>\n
Having transferred to Begg after four New Zealand runs yielding one win on debut in maiden class, Niance showed her quality in her first preparation with three wins out of four. She started with a 1.5 length win at Pakenham \u2013 still her only run over 1000 metres \u2013 before two Melbourne city victories.<\/p>\n
She returned last spring to enhance her value with her first two black type successes \u2013 in Caulfield\u2019s Alinghi Stakes (Listed, 1100m) and How Now Stakes (Gr 3, 1200m). In the latter, she relegated to the minor placings two mares who\u2019ve subsequently shone: with the second-placed She\u2019s Bulletproof (Shooting To Win) going on to run second in the Oakleigh Plate (Gr 1, 1100m), while the third-placed Miss Roumbini (Zoustar) won a $1 million race on Magic Millions day and was second last Saturday in Magic Time\u2019s Cockram Stakes.<\/p>\n
Begg was aiming for the Oakleigh Plate with Niance as well when disaster and mystery struck. Niance was found in her spelling paddock with a fractured skull \u2013 right between the ears \u2013 which required a piece of bone to be removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cA week before she was due to come back in to get ready for the Oakleigh Plate, she was found in her paddock with big swelling between her ears, on the poll,\u201d Begg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one saw her do it. She could have done it in the shelter in the paddock, or on a fence post \u2013 who knows?<\/p>\n
\u201cSome bone had become detached, the wound wouldn\u2019t heal, the bone was trying to bust out of the skin, muck was oozing out \u2013 it wasn\u2019t pretty.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to go in and do surgery, and that was her autumn done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Niance still came back in late May \u2013 for one race only \u2013 and duly added her third stakes win, again at Caulfield in the Bel Esprit Stakes (Listed, 1100m).<\/p>\n
\u201cWe gave her just one run,\u201d Begg said. \u201cWe were conscious of trying to have her ready to go in the spring, and it\u2019s very hard giving horses 12 months off, from spring to spring. It was good to have her up to the speed of going to the races, then having another little back off, and then getting ready again.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, we\u2019re very happy with her condition. She looks fantastic \u2013 she\u2019s got a summer coat, and she looks buffed.\u201d<\/p>\n
A late October foal, Niance didn\u2019t look so appealing as a youngster, and so didn\u2019t make it to a yearling sale.<\/p>\n
On the small side, she\u2019s by Swiss Ace (Secret Savings), who\u2019s standing at Harvey\u2019s Waikato farm Westbury Stud this season for $5,000 (plus GST), having sired 22 stakes winners from 591 starters, at 3.7 per cent.<\/p>\n
Niance\u2019s dam, Cosmetic, was by moderate American sire Red Giant (Giant\u2019s Causeway), and had two starts, in New Zealand, for a tenth and a 13th.<\/p>\n
\u201cNiance isn\u2019t very big \u2013 you wouldn\u2019t have bought her at a yearling sale,\u201d Begg said. \u201cPlus I don\u2019t think she would\u2019ve been commercial enough, by Swiss Ace out of a Red Giant mare.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, after a win from her first four starts \u2013 the last a tenth in Te Rapa\u2019s Mufhasa Stakes (Listed, 1400m) which convinced Begg shorter trips were warranted \u2013 Ace Bloodstock bought a majority share and syndicated her to 13 owners. Octogenarian Harvey stayed in but, with his hundreds of horses, may have lost track as to what extent, as his Baramul stud manager Luke McDonald discovered.<\/p>\n
\u201cGerry apparently said to Luke, \u2018Hey why isn\u2019t Niance racing in my colours?\u2019\u201d Begg said. \u201cLuke said, \u2018Because you sold her, boss!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Those colours \u2013 red with a white Ace bloodstock logo with red and white striped sleeves and a white cap \u2013 are eerily and coincidentally similar to Begg\u2019s first Moir Stakes winner.<\/p>\n
Our Egyptian Raine (Desert Sun), who won a New Zealand Group 1 and seven other stakes races but was just as famous for no less than eight top-tier seconds, carried red with a white Maltese cross, plus red and white striped sleeves and a white cap.<\/p>\n
That mare won the Moir in 2003 when it used to be run on Cox Plate Day and, alas for her, it was still ten years off being upgraded from a Group 2 to a Group 1.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s one of 12 females to win the race in its past 23 editions, but the gender bias is more stark in recent years, with females winning five of the past eight.<\/p>\n
\u201cFemales have been more than competitive in this race. They get in very well under the conditions at weight-for-age, especially in the early spring,\u201d said Begg. \u201cI hope that continues on Saturday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Niance, with Jordan Childs aboard, faces some tough competition in the Moir, especially from the females who\u2019ll comprise at least six of the 15 starters in the breakneck sprint.<\/p>\n
Gun New Zealander Alabama Lass (Alabama Express) is a $5 chance, VRC Lightning Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) winner Skybird (Exosphere) is at $8, while Team McEvoy\u2019s Arabian Summer (Too Darn Hot) could be a smokey at $26.<\/p>\n
Aside from those, Shane Nichols\u2019 well-bred filly Esha (Extreme Choice) \u2013 who will make the race as the sole emergency after the withdrawal of Tiger Shark (Rich Enuff) \u2013 is at $6, after winning her first two starts, the latest a three-year-old handicap over this course on August 9 by 3.5 lengths. The filly, out of Nichols\u2019 Group 1-winning mare I Am A Star (I Am Invincible) was a $900,000 Gold Coast purchase for Nichols and Kia Ora Stud, whose colours she bears.<\/p>\n
Begg said the Manikato Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) on September 26 would be Niance\u2019s next target. Beyond that, interest has been expressed in her from a slot holder for The Everest, to be run at Randwick on October 18.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had one enquiry regarding The Everest,\u201d Begg said. \u201cI just said she\u2019d be running on Saturday, then we\u2019ll possibly run in the Manikato and work it out from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the heights Niance might reach, Begg is cautiously optimistic. At least having missed the autumn, she hasn\u2019t been overtaxed.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s still a bit untapped really,\u201d he said. \u201cShe\u2019s still very lightly raced, even though she\u2019s a six-year-old, so who knows?\u201d<\/p>\n
The second three-year-old filly in the wider field is star New Zealander La Dorada (Super Seth), who may be over the odds at $26..<\/p>\n
Like Niance, she\u2019s drawn poorly in gate 11, but at least has the filly\u2019s weight of 50 kilograms to compensate, with apprentice Luke Cartwright to ride.<\/p>\n
Trainer Mark Walker said La Dorada \u2013 winner of four from five including the Manawata Sires\u2019 Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m) and the Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) \u2013 would improve on whatever she showed on Saturday, but was not ruling out her chances.<\/p>\n
Walker won the race two years ago with then five-year-old sensation Imperatriz (I Am Invincible), but is also buoyed by the Moir wins of fillies Coolangatta (Written Tycoon) in 2022 and She Will Reign (Manhattan Rain) in 2017, both also under 50 kilograms.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d prefer it to be 1200 metres, but she\u2019s only got 50 kilos, and three-year-old fillies have got a pretty good record in the race,\u201d said Walker, whose filly has had two recent jump-outs.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s fit and ready to go, but there\u2019s still quite a bit of improvement to come from her yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe draw\u2019s a bit niggly, but if they get more rain than is forecast, out wide might be the place to be.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Trevor Marshallsea Listen A little mare who was too unfashionable for a yearling sale and who\u2019s recovered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[1071,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-395913","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\/115143255279258886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395913","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=395913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/395913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/395914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=395913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=395913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=395913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}