Jewel in the O’Dea crown

Bianca Jewel returns with a hefty QTIS 600 and QTIS bonus (Noel Pascoe photos)

As far as a maiden race goes, this was fittingly a pearler.

Bianca Jewel, the un-trialled two-year-old trained by Steven O’Dea, has collected a $74,000 cheque from her first race outing.

Not surprisingly, this was the result of $42,000 in QTIS 600 and QTIS added stakes during the Australia Day celebration at Doomben on Tuesday, January 26.

Bianca Jewel, a filly by Lion Heart (USA) out of promising dam St Covet Girl, was driven by Ryan Wiggins to take up the speed from the jump and never looked like relinquishing her grip on the SITA Environmental QTIS 600 2YO Fillies Handicap 1010m.

Understandably both O’Dea and Wiggins were a little taken aback by the two-year-old’s uncharacteristic performance on raceday which resulted in a three and three quarter length victory.

“She was super-impressive,” O’Dea said. “I expected her to run well, but the extent to which she ran was a little bit unexpected that’s for sure.

“The way she raced was a little in contrast to the way she has been going. She’d been going well in jumpouts and on the track, but she never showed the speed that she did in the race the other day.”

Bianca Jewel backed up her dominant performance by slicing over three tenths of a second off Calaway Gal’s class record of 58.33 seconds.

“It surprised me. She’s showed us a little bit of ability at the track, but she’s a little bit lazy at the same time too,” Wiggins added.

“A different horse turned up today…a racehorse.”

O’Dea will look to give his new profitable superstar a short break with an eye on March 20 and the $250,000 QTIS 600 2YO Plate at the Gold Coast.

Depending on how the two-year-old fairs, O’Dea will then look at the Queensland Winter Racing Carnival or hold off for a similar QTIS 600 race series event at Eagle Farm on July 10, also worth $250,000.

Bianca Jewel is the sister of O’Dea’s 2009 stable star, Kiss Me Katy. They are both owned and bred by Joe Rapisarda in Ayr.

“On the performance, she’s run time and an impressive winner, she’s right up there with her (Kiss Me Katy) and may even be better than her,” O’Dea said.

Rapisarda and O’Dea have had a long association dating back well before the trainer began to ply his trade five years ago, and was understandably overjoyed by the $74,000 collect.

“There has been a long association with the family,” O’Dea said. “I used to work for Dad who trained for Joe. Then when Dad decided to retire, I began training his horses.

“He puts a lot of money into racing, so it was a good and justified return for him.

“The bonus scheme is a great incentive to get people into buying young horses.”

Local trainer David Lawlor also chased the valuable race bonuses on offer with his two-year-old filly Handbag.

Purr of Glory records win number on Australia Day at Doomben

In her maiden start also, Handbag (Michael Hellyer) walked away with $22,000, which included $12,000 in QTIS 600 and QTIS added stakes.

Bianca Jewel and Handbag share the same grandsire in St. Covet which could be precious information for those heading to the 2010 QTIS 600 Magic Millions Yearling Sales on Sunday, March 21 and Monday, March 22.

Already a well-travelled two-year-old, Tough Luck arrived at the top of the Doomben straight positioned well by Jim Byrne and looked very ominous.

In her eighth start the Robert Bradshaw-trained filly just could not reel in the powerful Bianca Jewel and settled for third a half head behind Handbag.

Tough Luck has been a regular at QTIS 600 races around the state, covering ground from the Gold Coast to Mackay in the space of three months of racing.

It has been a profitable journey for Bradshaw and the filly’s connections however with her career prizemoney reaching $235,250 from four wins and two placings, which includes $34,000 in race bonuses.

Those writing the cheques for QTIS added stakes winners on Australia Day were left a little weary as the B105 QTIS 3YO Handicap 1200m produced a clean-sweep for eligible horses also.

Purr of Glory, a promising three-year-old trained by Kelly Schweida, motored home over some tough opposition to collect a $21,000 QTIS bonus.

The filly likewise to Bianca Jewel was sired by Lion Heart (USA) out of Monica’s Glory, and has continued a string of wins for owner and Brisbane Racing Club chairman Kevin Dixon.

The one and a quarter length victory to Purr of Glory and jockey Jim Byrne, who walked out of Doomben with five wins from seven rides, over Redibis saw her career prizmoney rise to $121,500, which includes $49,000 in QTIS added stakes.

This has all been achieved from three wins of four starts.

As mentioned, it was a clean-sweep for QTIS horses as race favourite Redibis held on with apprentice Luke Rolls onboard.

The Tony Gollan-trained filly returned to her Toowoomba stables with a $16,000 cheque to increase her prizemoney to $119,200 with a $19,900 QTIS bonus contribution.

Sheldon and jockey Brad Pengelly worked home late to secure third place for Toowoomba-based trainer Mark Webb.

Half a length further behind, the colt has accrued $74,100 in career prizemoney, which includes $24,000 in QTIS added stakes.

QUEENSLAND Racing web news: Ross Dowd – January 28