Many observers, and certainly those on course, would not have been happy with the weather at Geelong on Friday. Cold and wet. The track was getting more heavy, well into the Soft range, close to Heavy.
But the loyal owners of Diaquin, and Nigel himself, were grinning from ear to ear. Both of their mare’s previous two wins were on Soft or Heavy going. Diaquin has been racing consistently, so there was a feeling that the Elantis Premium Funding BM64 Handicap could be the race to score her third victory.
How right the connections were.
With a bit of pace in the race, combined with the conditions and an in form rider (Alana Kelly), Diaquin won comfortably by coming off the pace rounding the home turn and easily getting through the soft ground in the straight.
“She excels in the wet. She is not bad on firm ground too, but the softness allows her to stride out a little more and that’s how she wins. That might not happen that often, but she’s terrific to train and own.” – Nigel
This was a great win for Alana Kelly who has been riding in terrific form and has a big future in the game. She works hard at trackwork, jump outs and trials, and her career is starting to flourish.
As for the ownership group, led by Ian and Karyn Lewis, Diaquin’s success is a nice reward.
We purchased this daughter of Sacred Falls from the draft of Waikato Stud a few years ago. Most of the ownership group were on the ground with Nigel to inspect horses and select a filly they wanted, in the right price range. Diaquin has now won more than $125k in earnings and there is no reason why she can win a few more before a breeding career. Especially when there is a bit of rain around!
