We feel privileged to have been training a few horses for Brendan and Jo Lindsay’s Cambridge Stud Racing team over the past few seasons. We can now add Passione to that list of winners following her city win at Caulfield on July 23rd.
Arriving at our stable in March with solid racing credentials in New Zealand (1 win but also a Group 3 placing), the objective set by the Cambridge Racing Team was to test Passione in the competitive Victorian racing scene and improve her racing profile for her future broodmare career.
By the end of May, Nigel gave Passione an easy jump out at Kilmore, which she won. Then she won another jump out at Ballarat in early June. A promising campaign beckoned.
First up at Sandown over 1300m, Passione raced well.
“I was confident she would run well at Sandown Lakeside but unfortunately she drew a wide barrier and was trapped wide the whole way. She will benefit from that run for sure.”
Nigel
Second-up at Caulfield she was at peak fitness and found the 1400m distance and soft 5 surface to her liking.
Passione settled midfield and one off the fence before Craig Williams worked her into the clear 250m from home. She drove determinedly to the line to score. A good win for her connections and her pedigree page.
Cambridge Stud purchased Passione, a half-sister to multiple Group winner and NZB Filly of the Year Dijon Bleu, out of Lansdowne Park’s 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale draft for NZ$100,000.
Bred by Craig Grammer and the Robinson Family Trust, Passione is a daughter of the unraced mare Pristino, a half-sister to Group 2 winner So Pristine.
Put into training with Lisa Latta at Awapuni (NZ), she has always shown promise despite the one win in NZ. She did place in a competitive Group 3 race for three-year-old fillies to prove her ability. But constant heavy tracks in the central districts of NZ were the main obstacle facing Passione and her trainer Lisa Latta.
Thankfully for us, we were given the chance to train Passione.
“A special thanks to Cambridge Stud for their big support with Brendan and Jo Lindsay and a team headed by Henry Plumptre. They have been very supportive over the last couple of years and it is nice to get a Saturday win for them.”
Nigel
“Nigel Blackiston has done an amazing job for Cambridge Stud with fillies or mares that have had a couple of problems or haven’t quite found their mark in another stable. Everything we have sent him he has turned into a city winner and two or three of them have been stakes-performed.”
Henry Plumptre – Cambridge Stud
