By the time the ninth of ten races came up at Kembla Grange on Saturday, jockeys were feverishly searching for a home straight lane somewhere near the middle of the track. Nobody wanted to be near the inside section while some of the local horsemen were of the opinion the extreme outside was even heavier. Jason Collett was having his seventh ride of the day when he took Mabel to the 1000m barrier for the Elite Sand&Soil BM 78. Suffice to say he had a pretty good grip on the vagaries of the surface.
A little bit of early crowding was of no concern to Jason who always intended to go back from a wide gate. Mabel was in front of only two runners in the ten horse field as they turned for home. Jason switched to the extreme outside on straightening and would have been happy to stay exactly where he was all the way to the winning post. His plans were thwarted when Rebel Dean to his inside shifted a couple of horses rather abruptly at the 200m, carrying him a little wider than he wanted to be. The jockey needn’t have worried. Mabel let down brilliantly, despite having a tendency to drift even wider of her own volition. Her winning margin of 3.3 lengths was the second widest of the day. Right on the line, the attractive daughter of Dream Ahead had the temerity to prick her ears.
Despite covering more ground than all of her rivals Mabel dominated the BM78 at Kembla - the middle leg of a treble for Jason Collett - courtesy Steve Hart Photographics.
The background story behind Mabel is of the kind that inspires racing’s smaller players. This is how it played out just over four years ago. Trainer Tracey Bartley had become curious about the progeny of Dream Ahead after winning a couple of races with a gelding called So Bizarre in 2018. He soon discovered that Dream Ahead was a Kentucky bred who’d won four Group 1 races. As a two year old he won the prestigious Middle Park Stakes by a massive nine lengths, while at three he won the historic July Cup at Newmarket giving high profile female jockey Hayley Turner her first Gr 1 success.
Dream Ahead’s stud career began in Ireland where he spent four years before a move to Haras de Grandcamp in France. He later stood several seasons in Australia which yielded regular winners including a couple at Gr 2 level - Phobetor (Missile Stakes) and Shumookh (Tristarc Stakes). At time of writing Dream Ahead is domiciled at Bearstone Stud in the UK with a CV boasting 32 stakes winners world wide with four at Gr 1 level. His daughter Glass Slippers won three times at the top level including a Breeders Cup Turf Sprint. His son Dream of Dreams has two Gr 1’s to his credit. When Tracy spotted a Dream Ahead weanling filly for sale online in 2019 he moved swiftly.
“I made a few phone calls before lodging a $5000 bid, not really expecting to get her for that kind of money,” said the trainer. “I was pleasantly surprised when our bid was successful and I couldn’t wait to see her. I wasn’t disappointed. Here was a neat little black filly with a lovely straight narrow blaze, and perfectly correct in every way. I actually broke her in myself and liked her more with everything we did. I was still riding work at the time and had a lot to do with her early days. Not only did she have the sweetest temperament, but she moved like a good horse. Our original plan was to offer her for syndication, but I jumped off her one day and told my wife we were going to keep her ourselves. We’ve pulled the right rein.”
The Bartleys shared the winner's sash after Mabel's win at Kembla - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
All official documents show Ms. T. Quinn as the official owner of the black mare - in effect the trainer’s wife (also Tracy) who chooses to race horses under her maiden name. Tracy is the daughter of the late Pat Quinn, a widely respected trainer who succumbed to cardiac arrest at a Canterbury meeting in 2007 when pinned against a rail by a headstrong horse. Tracy’s brother Marc enjoys his share of success from a Port Macquarie training base. “It was a whole lot easier to have only one name in the ownership of the mare,” said trainer Bartley. “Either way we’re having a lot of fun and I don’t think it’s finished yet.”
Mrs. Bartley had the honour of naming the attractive filly and was faced with the task confronting many Australian racehorse owners in the current era. With thousands of new horses being registered every year it’s no easy task to find a name that hasn’t already been requested, or one that passes the strict criteria imposed by the state authorities. Tracy Bartley has been a long time fan of the London based singer “Mabel” whose singles and albums are popular the world over. She applied for the name and was delighted when the Racing NSW Registrar deemed it available.
It hasn’t been all smooth sailing with the four legged Mabel. Tracey was happy enough with her first ten race starts which yielded two wins at Muswellbrook and one at Tamworth as well as four placings. One of those placings was a good third to Sonnet Star in the Wellington Boot. Following the Tamworth win she put in three below par runs at Randwick, Gosford and Newcastle. “After the Newcastle run jockey Patrick Scorse reported her breathing hadn’t been right throughout the race,” said Tracey. “We had her scoped the following day and sure enough she was on her way to being broken winded. She had the commonly used “tie-back” procedure a few days later before being turned out.
Mabel returned in November of last year to score an emphatic first up win at Hawkesbury with Anna Roper in the saddle. That was the beginning of a ten start preparation which also yielded a BM 72 win at Randwick and several placings. The paddock again beckoned. When the mare resumed in early September everything suggested her surgery had been a complete success. “Her work had been right up to the mark, and her breathing seemed normal,” said Tracey. “It was a relief when she ran a cracking second first up in a BM 78 at Randwick behind Waverider Buoy. She and the winner made their runs together, with Waverider Buoy grabbing her in the last stride.
Mabel scored a brilliant Hawkesbury win at her first run back after "tie-back" surgery - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
“Four days before her next scheduled start, Mabel seemed a little listless after a light gallop on the Tuesday morning. We didn’t accept for the Saturday race when we found her temperature to be slightly elevated. We gave her a few easy days before checking her temperature again, and we were surprised to find it still above normal. It was obvious she’d picked up a bug, so we put her straight into the paddock and hoped for the best. It took her many weeks to throw it off. We brought her up very steadily and when she lined up at Kembla Grange on Saturday it was exactly twelve weeks since her previous run. She loves it “fresh” over the short course.”
Tracey is so focused on keeping Mabel to the short course sprints that he’s contemplating a quick trip to Brisbane for the 1000m listed Bribie Hcp at Eagle Farm on December 9th. He’s also looking at the listed 1300m Just Now as a suitable first up essay for stablemate Barossa Rosa whose Wyong trial on Tuesday was very pleasing. The six year old mare has raced twenty five times for six wins, five placings and a very healthy $542,000. She’s already the winner of a black type race at Doomben on New Year’s Eve last year. Should Tracey have a change of mind about taking Barossa Rosa north, she’ll more than likely run at Randwick on the same day. The trainer has already spoken to in form jockey Ashley Morgan about riding one or both of his horses in Brisbane.
Tracey Bartley is keen to target short course sprints with Mabel - courtesy Bradley Photographers.
Tracey’s family and friends are in awe of his amazing recovery from injuries sustained in an accident on his Jilliby property last March. It’s well documented that the experienced horseman suffered severe internal injuries when kicked in the stomach by one of two mares who’d just arrived home after having raced in Brisbane twenty four hours earlier.
Still cursing his own carelessness, Tracey was rushed to the Royal North Shore Hospital where doctors performed the first of several surgical procedures to control bleeding to the spleen, liver and kidneys. He was back at the races in seven weeks and has continued to make gradual improvement. Onlookers couldn’t help but notice the spring in his step as he left the Kembla Grange track after Mabel’s dashing win on Saturday.
Perhaps the only other participant to leave the course with similar jauntiness was Jason Collett who dominated the ten race programme. From nine rides he posted three wins and three placings highlighted by Detonator Jack’s demolition job on the opposition in the fifth edition of The Gong. Almost four months into the new season Collett, with 47 wins sits in third place on the NSW premiership behind Tyler Schiller and Ashley Morgan. On the metro ladder his 28 win tally sees him in third spot behind Schiller and Nash Rawiller.
Mabel wears a hood and ear muffs as she heads to the barrier on Saturday - courtesy Steve Hart Photographics.
(Banner image - Any wider and Mabel would have been in the grandstand! She came down the outside fence to win the BM78 - courtesy Bradley Photographers.)