Though outpaced early, there would be no denying stayer of-the-moment Amity Bale in the opening heat of the Group Two Pages Event Hire Summer Cup at Wentworth Park on Saturday night.
Unbeaten at her previous seven starts - each at Group level - the Graeme Bate dynamo has been beaten only once in five starts at WP over 720m and as a $1.30 chance, her supporters had little cause for concern.
Salvatore managed to outpace Amity Bale early on but the daughter of Sonic Flight took up a handy trailing position and after one lap of the Ultimo track, she drew to the lead.
The planets had aligned for those who stepped into the long odds on.
Melandri tracked up and loomed as a threat but Amity Bale had not yet hit top gear and she tore away in the latter stages to score by a clear 4 1/2 lengths in the personal best time of 42.14.
Melandri was gallant in defeat and maintained his ‘perfect’ record at the track – four starts for as many placings but he is in another league to his conqueror.
National Distance Champion Jarvis Bale closed late to snare third, a fraction ahead of the fading Salvatore.
The betting suggested the second Summer Cup heat was a match between Reign Over Me and the highly talented but enigmatic Forty Twenty.
Reign Over Me, however, was slow to begin from box one and raced below his best and finished only sixth to ... Whitfield Bale.
Whitfield Bale diced for the early lead with Tifi while Chilli Jim and Forty Twenty lurked in behind.
While close enough with a lap to run, Forty Twenty and Chilli Jim collided a number of times and when each should have been making ground on the leaders, the opposite was the case.
In the latter stages, Whitfield Bale staved off Tifi to score by a neck in 42.60 - his first win in five starts at Wentworth Park over 720m. And there's the rub between the two Bale winners.
Forty Twenty snared third place and a spot in the Summer Cup final but it's hard to see anything testing Amity Bale. She is on a mission.
Unbeaten at her past eight starts, her offerings have mirrored that of star sprinter Cindeen Shelby over the past eight weeks.
Owner Paul Wheeler is in the midst of a remarkable run of success and Amity Bale is his ace.
Her quality is there for all to see but her true worth will be as a 'mum' for "Team Wheeler".
But that can wait. It might be spring but for Paul Wheeler and Graeme Bate the Summer (Cup) looms large.
| |
2009 Pages Hire Summer Cup Final November 14, 2009
|
Wentworth Park 720m
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Salvatore
|
Eric Castle
|
|
|
Forty Twenty
|
John Heard
|
|
|
Melandri
|
Robert Britton
|
|
|
Chilli Jim
|
Kenneth Burnett
|
|
|
Amity Bale
|
Graeme Bate
|
|
|
Tifi
|
Chris O'Brien
|
|
|
Whitfield Bale
|
Graeme Bate
|
|
|
Jarvis Bale
|
Graeme Bate
|
|
|
Chilli Pug
|
Kenneth Burnett
|
|
|
Benji Magic
|
Robert Britton
|