In-form sprinter Bello has put paid to the notion he is simply a wet tracker with victory to claim a career-best Group Three victory in the Newcastle Newmarket.
The Darley-owned four-year-old trained by Peter Snowden was aided by an intelligent ride from Jason Collett who seized the opportunity to come along the rail in Wednesday’s provincial feature.
Bello had won two of his previous three starts on heavy Sydney tracks and his other previous four wins had also been on rain-affected ground.
Last year’s Rosehill Guineas winner Laser Hawk showed he would be a force this autumn, rattling home to fall short by just a long head under his topweight of 59kg with Famous Seamus edging out Bello’s stablemate Raspberries for third.
“It was a terrific ride,” Snowden’s Sydney foreman Brad Widdup said.
“He is a better horse with the cut out of the ground.
“I don’t think Peter will be sending him to the Doncaster. Seven furlongs (1400m) pretty much sees him out but this a great grand finale.”
It was the second Group win in the past month for Collett, last season’s champion New Zealand apprentice who has made a great start to his senior career, establishing himself in the top 10 Sydney riders.
He steered Rebel Dane to win the Royal Sovereign Stakes on March 2 and has the mount on New Zealand mare Zurella in Saturday’s Group One Coolmore Classic at Rosehill.
“I was initially going to come out but then I switched back and got all the favours up the rail,” Collett said.
“It’s fantastic to ride a stakes race (winner) at any time and great to win for Darley.”
The Gai Waterhouse-trained Laser Hawk, winner of the 2012 Rosehill Guineas, missed the spring after undergoing knee surgery.
Earlier the Waterhouse camp predicted a bright future for Hydro, winner of the two-year-old race at the Newcastle meeting.
Jockey Nash Rawiller said the colt, by More Than Ready out of the Waterhouse-trained Group One winner Aqua d’Amore would be a definite prospect for the upcoming Sires’ Produce Stakes during the autumn carnival.
