Sestina and Tralee Bay delivered a special milestone for their trainer Jo-Anne Dalton last month at Wingatui and will return to the venue on Tuesday in pursuit of back-to-back victories across the Melbourne Cup Day card.
Dalton, who trains out of Ascot Park, had been eyeing the 100-win mark for some time and was delighted to fulfil that goal with a winning double at the mid-October meeting with the two former Cambridge Stud gallopers.
“I knew it was coming up so it was a relief to get it out of the way so early in the season,” she said. “It was great.
“I am very fortunate to have owners (Alan Harper and Tom Kilkelly) who are great supporters and good friends of Brendan Lindsay. When there are horses they are not carrying on with up there, we get the pick of, and getting nice horses from Cambridge is such a bonus.
“We are just a small hands-on team, we have a couple of people help at the track but my husband and I do most of the work ourselves so it’s really rewarding.
“I work part-time as an administrator for Meridian Energy, so you get to deal with different people outside of racing which is a nice balance.”
A six-year-old by Lonhro, Sestina was taken through the trials stage by Cambridge Stud’s private trainer Lance Noble, then after travelling south, won on debut for Dalton.
The mare has since won a further three and placed in 11 of her 29 starts, the most recent of those coming when she resumed in Open grade over 1400m. She will face a similar assignment in the Grand Casino Open Handicap (1400m) on Tuesday, albeit on an improved surface.
“I thought it would be too short for her (first up), but being on the softer track probably helped,” Dalton said. “It was a pleasant surprise really, she does go well fresh but I thought they may be a touch sharp in that grade.
“She’s very well, she’s been freshened a little bit as we were looking to go over 1400m again. I’m really happy with her going into it but it is a slight worry (with the firmer track) that they might go too quick for her.
“She’s more of a miler to 2000m horse but we are limited in options over a mile in this grade down here. There are a few horses in the same boat, Sabin Kirkland’s (Bouyant) and Kelvin Tyler’s (Martell) will be tough to beat but the rest are probably more middle-distance horses too.
“It is a massive assistance having Tina (Comignaghi) on, she runs so well for her and has a lot of experience.”
Her stablemate Tralee Bay followed a similar path, trailing for Noble before joining Dalton at the start of his career. The lightly-tried five-year-old picked up his second win last time out at Rating 65 grade and steps up to contest the KB Contractors R75 (1600m).
“He’s come through it really well, he’s a very big, tall horse at about 17.2 hands,” Dalton said. “He’s a lot more settled in his attitude this year and that’s coming through in his racing, so going forward, hopefully he can get over a bit more ground.
“I’m happy with him going into tomorrow.”
The latest addition from the Cambridge nursery is Venetian, an Australian-bred mare by Castelvecchio. She had five starts in the north, with the best of those a fourth placing in maiden three-year-old company behind subsequent Derby winner Willydoit.
She will resume in a new campaign in The Ned MDN (1400m), with apprentice Yogesh Atchamah claiming one kilogram off her 56.5kg impost.
“She’s a lovely wee horse and I quite like her,” Dalton said. “I had her in at Riverton (on Sunday) but pulled out of the heavy track.
“We’re still learning about her and I’m sure anything she does tomorrow, she’ll improve from.”