Family line no fantasy in Gold Chalice success

Passionate western Victorian harness racing owners David and Terry Lewis are putting a second Gold Chalice in their trophy cabinet – and it’s courtesy of the granddaughter of their first winner of the 3yo fillies feature 14 years ago.

At Melton on Saturday night (Feb 4) Isthisjustfantasy (Betting Line) showed she had the class to emulate, and possibly eclipse, the achievements of her grandmother Whodoyouwantmetobe (Armbro Operative).

She scored a tough death-seat win for trainer Paddy Lee and driver Glenn Craven, and held off some handy challengers in the process, scoring by four metres.

For complete race results, click here.

“She has just kept on improving and she probably went better in the chalice than we even thought she was capable of – it was a terrific win,” a delighted Terry Lewis, the popular president of the Horsham Harness Racing Club, said.

Terry, and his trainer brother, David, bought Isthisjustfantasy’s great grand dam, Brilliant Disguise (Toliver Bay), from noted breeder, the late Peter Beaumont.

“The mare had only one eye, and when we bought her she was in foal to Sokys Atom.  That foal was Master of Disguise, and was one out of the box for us.”

Master of Disguise went on to win 27 races for the brothers, and gave them some of their greatest thrills in the sport, including finishing runner up in the 4yo VicBred Super Series in 2007 and an InterDominion campaign on the Gold Coast in 2009.

Their second foal from the mare was Man In Disguise (seven wins) (Armbro Operative) before the avid breeders were handed the key to a new generation with a filly, Whodoyouwantmetobe, also by Armbro Operative.

All didn’t necessarily go quite to plan though.  Whodoyouwantmetobe certainly did her job on the racetrack, with seven wins including her Gold Chalice, but in the breeding barn, she was a little more difficult, producing just two foals over eight seasons.

Her first foal, however, was Mistressofillusion (Jeremes Jet), who, after winning eight races including two Metropolitan class events and making a Ladyship final in Sydney, was retired to stud.  Mistressofillusion’s first foal was Isthisjustfantasy.

“The family has been a really high speed family – both Whodoyouwantmetobe and Mistressofillusion had incredibly high speed.  This one (Isthisjustfantasy) has certainly inherited their speed, but she’s got a bit more sense as well, which is good!” Lewis joked.

“But in the Gold Chalice Isthisjustfantasy also showed that she has a bit of bottom to her as well which is very exciting for us.”

Lewis said a decision would be made on what was next with trainer Paddy Lee after the filly’s recovery.

“We’ll decide over the next few days whether to send her to the NSW Oaks, or rather we’ll let the horse tell us what is going on, how she pulls up and so on.”

He said the potential Isthisjustfantasy was showing might also prompt Whodoyouwantmetobe’s recall to the breeding barn.

“She has been retired from breeding for a few seasons now because she was a very problematic mare to get in foal and we only managed to get her in foal twice.  We really tried everything.   David’s wife is a vet and we had access to the best of advice, but for whatever reason, she was difficult,” Terry said.

“Her daughter is a really good breeder though, and the others (younger siblings of Isthisjustfantasy) are all good foals, great looking foals actually, and the American Ideal (now 2YO) broke in sensationally,” he said.

“So, we might just have another look at perhaps trying embryo transfer with her.  It’s a lovely family so it’s something we can think about.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink