Lovely Rita hits top form at Waverley

[Wandering Eyes]

There was plenty of emotion on display at Waverley on Wednesday when Lovely Rita (NZ) (Keano) broke a two-decade winning drought for owner-breeder-trainer Alison Ross.

The eight-year-old daughter of Keano was fair away from her wide gate, but jockey Madan Singh elected to press forward with his charge and captured the lead heading into the back straight. Lovely Rita set a strong tempo up front, opening up several lengths on the rest of the field and was able to maintain that advantage to the line, winning by 1-3/4 lengths.

Ross was duly delighted with the victory from the outsider of the field, with Lovely Rita paying $71 on the fixed odds.

“I was very excited,” she said. “I had no money on though, she was paying plenty.”

Lovely Rita was having just her ninth career start and Ross wasn’t overly enthused with the Heavy8 track conditions heading into the meeting.

“We weren’t happy about the Heavy track reading, we were hoping for Soft or better, but we took the gamble and it paid off,” she said.

“She has run quite a few good races, things just haven’t quite worked out in her favour.”

Ross said Lovely Rita has thrived on her farm work of late.

“I have had to put my boots on again at the farm and I have been riding her around the farm four days a week and the boy (track work rider) has been riding her at the track two days a week,” she said. “Things worked out.”

Ross has always been fond of horses and has spent time working with them in both New Zealand and abroad, eventually taking out her trainer’s license in 1988.

“I have had show ponies and I have done a lot of riding. My mother was a horse person,” she said. “I worked over in England for a couple of years with point to pointers and show horses.

“I came back and worked for Leon Lupton for a couple of years. We had Region going, who won a lot of jumping races. I shifted down to the South Island and had a couple of horses running down there. One was Rainbow Warrior and she had a bit of success down there.

“My first winner Tommy Hazlett rode at the Omakau races, and she paid about $77.”

In 2005, Ross stepped away from training to focus on other areas of her life but found the pull of the sport too strong and decided to get a couple of mares in foal a few years ago, with Lovely Rita being one of the resulting foals.

“I had a break away (from racing) and then decided I would really like to get some horses going again,” she said. “Mr Bliss, with the Keano stallion, was friends with my partner and he very kindly gave us service fees for the horses.”

Ross had plenty of patience with Lovely Rita, who didn’t have her first start until last year, and Ross is pleased her perseverance has paid off.

“You live and hope, and it is something to get out of bed for in the morning,” she said.

Ross has just two horses in work, and while she didn’t get any of the $71 odds on Lovely Rita on Wednesday, she was pleased the owners of her other horse did.

“The other one is a Rageese three-year-old filly that is owned by people in Waverley that wanted to have a share in a horse,” she said. “They were the ones that had $2 each way on her yesterday that were jumping for joy.”

Ross is hoping her next win isn’t too far away, and may even back her mare up at her home track next week.

“I am looking for a 2000m race somewhere,” she said. “We would have liked to go to Waverley next week but seeming that is 2200m we will have to have a think about it.”

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