Rosie Beats Her Cluden Curse with Stunning Win

Bonny sprinting mare Sancy Rose finally broke a three-year Townsville hoodoo with a stunning upset win at Cluden Park on Tuesday.

Sancy Rose led throughout over the 1000m course to claim her first Cluden win in the Feed 2 Go BM 70 Hcp and left in her wake boom galloper Missile Thunder.

The victory was a breakthrough for Charters Towers trainer Rob Kirkwood and wife Sally who’ve been trying to win a Townsville race with Sancy Rose since 2020 with not even a placing in eight previous starts.

A thrilled co-owner Sally Kirkwood, who was standing in for Rob, said the five-year-old mare, known at home as “Rosemary” was a survivor who’d been to the brink of death and back.

“Honestly we’re so thrilled. We’ve had her since she was a yearling and a win here’s been a long time coming,” Kirkwood said.

“She showed a hell of a lot of ability as a two-year-old so we brought her down here for a trial. The fields were full and she had to go around against the older horses and she won it.

“We knew then we had something special but she picked up a virus on that trip and we nearly lost her.

“It attacked her airways and closed them over and that’s why she missed her two-year-old career.

“It cost a fortune in antibiotics and she was in the vet clinic for a few weeks.

‘At one stage she was in a really bad way at home and it was only that a local vet performed an emergency tracheotomy that saved her life.

“She’s tough, just so tough. She had to have the air op so she can’t go any further than 1000m and the 950m in Cairns suits her really well.”

But the engagement of claiming apprentice Isabella Teh gave the Kirkwood camp hope.

Teh has developed a special relationship with “Rosemary”, guiding her to two wins in Cairns before Tuesday’s win made it a perfect record of three from three.

“We thought it was going to be a very tough race for her because she struggles with that last 50m,” Kirkwood said.

“Here she’s a bit of a sitting duck on the long straight. She seems to have better success in Cairns, on the turning track.

“She can really scoot along but that last 50m they climb all over her, and it was really about whether she was hard enough and fit enough to get there.

“Isabella knows her and gets on very well with her and having a few kilos off her back also helps as well. It was a lovely ride today to get her over the line.”

Sancy Rose showed her blistering pace to lead yesterday’s event which featured the return of boom galloper Missile Thunder who started a hot favourite.

While Missile Thunder endured a wide run and faded, Sancy Rose relished the wide rail position and the slick surface to defy a late surge from Bones to win by a short head.

Bones just fell short of delivering trainers’ premiership leader Georgie Holt with a winning treble after scoring earlier with two-year-old Decrypting Gold and progressive sprinter Hurtle.

Holt has surged clear in Townsville’s premiership race with 29 wins, 14 clear of Roy Chillemi.

‘The team is going well. A new lot of horses are coming through now and a few of the older ones will go out and I think that’s the key to it, the  turnover,” Holt said.

“I wouldn’t think the two-year-old winner (Decrypting Gold) will run  in the 2yo Classic. I don’t think he has that brilliance and probably wants further.

“We’ll be patient with him. I always thought he was going to be a three-year-old – he’s had a couple of setbacks.

“A very good owner of ours, Terry Lines in New Zealand is a very patient bloke, who has a lot of horses over there.

“It was good to reward him today because he’s the major owner in the horse and he also has a share in Hurtle so he’s had a good day.”

Holt said the stable’s success has generated more requests from new owners.

With her husband Aidan, Holt now has 22 in work and others spelling.

That number is set to grow and the Holts are confident they’re in for a good carnival.

“The quality of the horses we’re being offered is a lot better than what we’ve had going into the carnivals in previous years.

“In the past they’ve just been a bit below that benchmark for carnival time but I’d say this carnival will be good to us with some nice horses coming through.”

Pictured: Sally Kirkwood and leading Townsville apprentice Isabella Teh with Sancy Rose after winning the Feed 2 Go BM 70 Hcp yesterday at Cluden Park.

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