Vosne oh so smart for Molly

BY BARRY LICHTER AT ELLERSLIE

ALANA SMART let out six years of pent-up emotions, weeping openly in the Ellerslie grandstand, after the reject horse she brought up in her backyard, Vosne Romanee, scored his third Group I win of the season in yesterday's SkyCity New Zealand Stakes at Ellerslie.

For there was a lot more going on than winning a big race when Smart embraced her husband, Ian, their pet horse Maddy's triumph over seemingly-impossible adversity paralleling that of their daughter Molly.

Ian Smart was at Karaka in 2004 trying to sell Maddy, the first horse they had ever bred, when the call came. Suddenly, failing to get a bid for the horse because he had shocking conformation paled into insignificance at news that Molly had hydro-cephalus, and needed an urgent operation to save her life.

Maddy, who was too narrow and straight in front to ever withstand racing, went back into the yard of their Martinborough home, while they put all their energies into looking after Molly.

But their lives turned into "a complete wreck" when, a couple of months later, Molly's brain collapsed and she "went to sleep for seven weeks." For the next 12 months, Alana Smart lived in Wellington Hospital with her daughter while Ian brought up their three boys at home, feeding and patting Maddy when he came up to the ranch-sliders.

The prospects for both horse and daughter looked bleak, trainer Jeff Lynds telling them Maddy was sure to break down at any time, while rehab experts at Takapuna in Auckland started trying to teach Molly how to "walk, talk, eat and sleep again." And just as doctors, caregivers and family got Molly back to school, at first in a wheelchair, Lynds got Maddy to the races, notching four seconds, then two wins in his first six starts.

Maddy's success stunned Lynds, who nicknamed the chestnut out of Madison Avenue "pop gun" because he was so straight and narrow, like a gun barrel.

Molly's recovery stunned everyone too, Alana Smart saying her now 11-year-old, back walking, was such a bubbly girl she hoped to fashion a career in hospitality. Smart hardly had words to describe what she feels for Maddy, who yesterday won his third Group I race and laid claim to Horse of the Year honours. "We love him to bits. Like Molly, we always know he'll give his best.

"When we brought him home we didn't know what we were going to do with him.

"This is just too hard to believe – three Group Ones." Ian Smart, who got the last hotel room at race sponsor SkyCity yesterday morning, invited everyone to tap him on the shoulder at the casino last night, where he promised he'd shout them a drink and dance on the tables.

"We're just small guys and even if you dreamt about this you wouldn't allow yourself to think you could win three Group Ones.

"But I'm always bullish about things – I've got Scottish in me – and life's too short."

Smart said he knew Vosne Romanee could still break down at any time, but he hoped it wasn't before a planned trip to Sydney for the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

"I want to take the kids to Sydney to do some shopping." Yesterday's rider, Opie Bosson, said while Vosne Romanee didn't feel or look pretty when galloping, when asked to accelerate he "just went bang."

Lynds described Vosne Romanee, who has now won nine races and more than $1.2 million, as a "great trooper" with real character.

"He has his own peculiar little ways and will play around with his jockeys but he knows exactly what's going on." Lynds said if the seven-year-old Electronic Zone gelding continued to race so well he would bring him back next season for a crack at the Cox Plate.

Molly wasn't at Ellerslie yesterday, but mum says that's a race her daughter would definitely not miss.

BANSHEE, DESCRIBED by trainer John Sargent as the perfect two-year-old, may be given her chance at the world's richest juvenile scamper, next month's $A3.5 million Golden Slipper Stakes at Rosehill.

Sargent said he wouldn't normally consider tackling the Sydney stock-car race with a speedy New Zealand two-year-old but Banshee, with her ability to boom home late, was the right type to run over the top of the Australian speedsters.

Sargent, who rates Banshee right up with the best two-year-olds he's trained, said a final decision on the trip would be up to Hastings owner Sam Kelt.

"She's not nominated so he'd have to pay the late entry fee," Sargent said after Banshee scored a decisive win in yesterday's Group I $200,000 Auckland Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie.

The $A150,000 late fee would eat up a big proportion of the filly's $277,000 bankroll, but Sargent said Banshee had the ability to be very competitive in the April 3 race, which carries a $A2 million winner's purse.

"She's the perfect two-year-old. She's so laid back, all she does is sleep and eat. Just look at her now, she's asleep again," Sargent said as the Oratorio filly came back to scale.

While rider Leith Innes had settled her handier than usual yesterday, that was only to make use of her good draw.

"She's actually a lot better when she's allowed to settle back." Sargent said given Kelt's aim to get Group I winning fillies for his Keltern Stud, he was glad he wouldn't be partying with the high-profile owner last night.

"But Sam puts a lot of money into the game so he deserves this." Sargent said if Kelt opted to gamble on the trip, Banshee was likely to also contest the $A300,000 Champagne Stakes on April 24. If Kelt elected to keep the filly at home, her last race of the season would be the Sires' Produce Stakes at Awapuni on Slipper day.

Innes, who captured the trophy for the best rider at the cup carnival with his win on Banshee, said he was sure Kelt wouldn't take off a winning jockey in any Slipper tilt.

"You know she'd travel over there okay because nothing upsets her. And there haven't been any standouts in the lead-up races so far.

"She's a great little fighter and has hind-quarters like a colt," Innes said.

"A kid could ride her. She went to sleep in the gates today, jumped out first, then relaxed when I eased her back. When you ask her, she's got another gear and she gives 120%."

Sargent gave co-breeder Denny Baker a huge buzz when, in Kelt's absence, he asked him to lead Banshee back to the winner's stall.

Baker said Banshee was now right up on the pedestal with her half-sister Katie Lee, which Hallmark Stud and Trevor Hurley also bred.

"I thought she was gone at the 100 but she came back," Baker said. "That family is just so gutsy."

Kelt paid $375,000 for Banshee as a yearling.

YOU CAN'T argue with Cambridge trainer Ross McCarroll when he says he stole his Ellerslie winner yesterday. The horse he named Stole, who won her third race from only seven starts, cost him just $100 as a yearling.

"It just shows you don't have to pay a lot of money to win a race at Ellerslie," a triumphant McCarroll said after the four-year-old mare scored in her first start for four months.

McCarroll said he went to the autumn mixed sale in April, 2007, only because he was asked by a client to buy a tried four-year-old – which he got for $500.

But when he inspected Wentwood Grange's yearling offering, of the same breeding, he bought her too.

"She was a very correct horse and so much better looking than the other one. I thought if the other one was good this would be a champion."

By Desert Fox out of Tina's Gift, Stole has now notched three wins and two placings.

"Every time she's been beaten there have been good reasons. She's shaping up as a pretty fair horse."

So what happened to the one he went to Karaka to buy?

"She kept going sore and we ended up giving her away."

- © Fairfax NZ News