Amore Vita NZ - VicBred Semis 2023 Photo by Stuart McCormick
JUST a week after winning the world’s richest harness race and getting a tattoo to mark it, champion trainer Emma Stewart inked another Record at Melton on Saturday night.
Stewart and her co-trainer Clayton Tonkin won an almost unthinkable nine races, all semi-finals of the rich Vicbred series.
It equalled Stewart’s own record of nine wins set at Launceston in April last year, but the significance of last night’s meeting puts above the Tasmania achievement.
Stewart was trackside at Melton last night sporting a tattoo on her hand saying “Encipher” after the four-year-old mare upstaged the boys to win the $2.1mil TAB Eureka at Menangle eight days ago.
“For all the good horses we’ve had, she’s the first millionaire, so I had to get it done,” Stewart said.
“I don’t post anything on socials, but I sent a photo (of the tattoo) to one of the people involved in the win, and they posted it’s gone viral now.”
“It’s a great way of forever remembering an amazing night. It’s the best night we’ve had in the game.”
“The atmosphere was unbelievable, to be on track was incredible, and to win the first ever Eureka on such a night was something special.”
Stewart would like to see Encipher tackle the boys again in the Group 1 Victoria Cup at Melton on October 14.
“It’s something we’ll have to talk to Tyson (Linke, owner-breeder) about, but I think she deserves her shot at the big ones (against the boys),” she said.
More immediately, Emma was basking in the nine-win haul at Melton last night on a 12-race card where the stable only had runners in 11 races but a remarkable 34 starters across the night.
The nine winners were Techys Watching, Joyful, Renewal, Draw A Dream, Stormryder, Amore Vita, Petracca, Talk Time and Sweet Bella.
On top of the nine winners, Stewart also snared five seconds and two-thirds. More than 47 per cent of runners finished top three.
The greatest dominance came in races seven and 10, where Stewart had the first five placegetters in each.
Stewart is on target to continue her stunning Vicbred series dominance in next week’s finals. In 2018 and ’19, she won five of the six pacing finals, while she has won three finals over the past three years.
“We’ve certainly had a great week,” Stewart said. “This is a big series for us with so many of our horses Vicbred. It’s as much a relief as anything when you get the results you hope for with all the work that goes into so many runners.”
Encipher would have been in the Vicbred series had the qualifying heats not clashed with the TAB Eureka, which is something that must be addressed for next year.
With no Encipher, another of Stewart’s gun mares, Amore Vita, stole the show last night with a powerhouse semi-win. She will dominate the betting for the final.
“She’s outstanding and did so easily,” stand-in driver David Moran said. “She’s up with the best mares I’ve driven, and she’s so strong. I think she could match it with the boys if they try it again at some stage.”
Stewart’s biggest winner last night was the lightly raced two-year-old filly Draw A Dream, who made it three wins from as many starts when she blitzed her rivals to win by 28m with Kerryn Manning aboard.
Meanwhile, Stewart has the likes of champion mare Ladies In Red and Hunter Cup winner Honolua Bay ready to trial as they return to chase more feature wins over the remaining four months of the season.
· Adam Hamilton is a paid contributor writing on harness racing for News Corp.
