Penny Black NZ winning at Pinjarra Photo by Jodie Hallows
New Zealand-bred mare Penny Black, described by her driver Emily Suvaljko as a big beast of an animal, enhanced her prospects in the rich feature events for mares next month with an impressive victory in the $27,000 TABtouch Share My Bet Pace over 2130m at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
Suvaljko’s aggressive tactics paved the way for the $2.90 chance Penny Black’s 4m win over the $2.70 favourite Aardiebytheseaside, and these two mares are on target for further exciting battles in the $100,000 Norms Daughter Classic on November 7 and the $150,000 Mares Classic a fortnight later.
Penny Black’s stablemate Heavenly Gipsy, a $3.30 chance at her first appearance for eleven weeks, began speedily from the No. 5 barrier, but her bid for the lead was thwarted by $9.50 chance Sweet Vivienne, who was first out from barrier four.
However, Sweet Vivienne broke after 150m, leaving Heavenly Gipsy in front. It was 100m later that Suvaljko urged Penny Black from out wide at barrier seven to move to the breeze with two laps to travel. After modest opening quarters of 31.8sec. and 29.5sec. the final 400m sections whizzed by in 27.9sec. and 27.7sec.
Penny Black eventually got to the front 120m from home, and she went on to win comfortably from Aardiebytheseaside, who was sixth at the bell and charged home, out wide. Wonderful To Fly ($21) finished gamely to be third, just ahead of the wilting Heavenly Gipsy.
“I decided to go forward when they backed off,” said Suvaljko. “That was always the plan; it wasn’t because Sweet Vivienne was galloping. I was going to go around no matter what.
“She has never been a horse who can go slow and then sprint a fast half. When I saw the first quarter in 31.8sec. I thought we might have been going too slow. And down the back the last time in 27.9sec. didn’t feel like she was going that fast.
“At her previous start a fortnight earlier, Penny Black sat outside the frontrunning Mister Smartee and toughed it to finish third when the one-out, one-back horse (Lusaka) was entitled to get over her.
“Now that she has shown such good versatility, she should be a big player in the upcoming feature events for mares.”
Five-year-old Penny Black, who was produced in fine fettle by leading trainer Michael Young for her second run after a three-month break, has been lightly raced, having had only 32 starts for 14 wins, ten placings and $263,901 in stakes.
