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The Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic (1600m) produced one of the most popular winners in its 44-year history with Saturday’s black-type breakthrough by local mare Casino Princess.
The highly talented five-year-old is trained at the track by the 92-year-old Cliff Goss, who also shares ownership with his close friend Darryl Heaphy.
Saturday's $80,000 fillies and mares' feature was the first black-type appearance for Casino Princess and clearly her toughest test yet. She had risen through the grades with four wins and four placings in her promising 10-start career, culminating in a last-start Rating 75 success over 1560m at Rotorua on May 11.
Casino Princess was ridden for the first time on Saturday by Jasmine Fawcett, who was well aware that the Tauranga track was favouring horses racing on or near the lead and close to the inside rail. Fawcett saw renowned front-runner Wessex as the biggest danger under that pattern, so she drove Casino Princess forward from her wide draw of gate 10.
Casino Princess took up a position on the outside of Wessex by the time the field turned out of the back straight, and she kept that rival squarely in her sights coming down the side of the track.
Fawcett made her move just before the home turn, sprinting past Wessex and taking a clear lead as she swung into the straight.
Casino Princess quickened smartly and shot clear. The favourite Malt Time produced a strong late run from well back in the field and chased bravely down the straight, but Casino Princess was well out of reach and swept to victory by two and a half lengths. Malt Time edged out Wessex for second by a long head, with more than four lengths back to the rest of the field.
"I was a bit concerned about Wessex getting too far in front on this track today, so I decided to take the initiative and go forward to sit outside her," Fawcett said.
"Cliff Goss sounded pretty confident when I spoke to him before the race, so I knew that she would be right in it if I could get her the right run.
"She's probably one of the most beautiful fillies I've ever ridden and she won very well today."
Casino Princess has now had 11 starts for five wins, four placings and $110,610 in prize-money. The daughter of Casino Prince is providing another shot at the big-race spotlight for Goss, whose rapid rise through the ranks with the super-talented Gold Watch was cruelly cut short by his breakdown in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) in January of 2022.
It has not always been smooth sailing either with Casino Princess, who won three of her first four starts but then bled last spring and was off the scene for almost six months.
"That was a beautiful win today," Goss said. "Especially winning a stakes race – you know, they're very hard to win. But I suppose she was a horse that could do it, and she proved it today.
"Jasmine was caught a bit wide from that draw and had to go forward, but that didn't worry us at all.
"We were very happy with her going into this race, despite the (42-day) gap between runs. She gallops once a week on a Wednesday, and I certainly thought her gallop on Wednesday of this week was a winning gallop.
"It's so important to get black type for a filly or mare, so this is very good."
