It took six goes but gutsy Sydney mare Beaded finally broke her Group One drought with a nail-biting win in the Doomben 10,000.
In a thrilling finish, jockey Corey Brown landed his second win in the 1350-metre feature on Saturday when he booted home Beaded for a short head win over Love Conquers All.
Black Piranha, winner of the past two Group One Stradbroke Handicaps, produced another eye-catching performance for the $1 million sprint in two weeks finishing only three-quarters of a length away third.
Darley head trainer Peter Snowden was thrilled with Beaded’s effort after she had failed to win at the highest level when placed in four of her previous five Group One attempts.
“She’s got a big heart for a tiny mare,” Snowden said.
“When I first set her for this we thought we’d be taking on Black Caviar and Hay List but when they came out we were a little more confident.
“She’s got a great fresh record but I deliberately left something in the tank for the Stradbroke.”
Snowden said the initial goals for Beaded were the Stradbroke Handicap and the Group One Winter Stakes (1400m) at Eagle Farm two weeks later and the Doomben 10,000 victory was a bonus.
Darley Australia bloodstock boss Henry Plumptre said the finish was heart-stopping but he had full confidence in Snowden’s ability to have Beaded near her peak.
“We thought we’d be running into Black Caviar and Hay List but Peter is a great trainer and he’s left something in the tank for the Stradbroke,” he said.
Snowden is unsure if Beaded will head to stud at the end of the season after taking her record to 10 wins from 20 starts.
“I’m not sure when they plan to retire her but why would you send her to stud when she’s in such great form,” he said.
Winning jockey Brown, who won the Doomben 10,000 three years ago on Apache Cat, wasn’t overly confident Beaded had won the photo-finish decision.
“I wasn’t sure,” Brown said.
“I thought I may have just got the bob in on the line but I wasn’t very confident.”
Love Conquers All’s co-trainer Michael Hawkes and jockey Chris Munce asked to look at the footage of the final stages to see if there were grounds for a protest in the tight finish.
“We looked at it and it was very close but Chris said no,” Hawkes said.
“It was a good run and we were beaten by a better one on the day.
“He’ll improve a lot for the Stradbroke after this run.”
Snowden also declared he wasn’t sure if Beaded, who is now eligible for the Stradbroke Handicap, had won.
“I was confident 50 metres out but five metres from the line I wasn’t so sure,” he said.
“She won by a short head and her head is only four inches long.”
AAP TURF
