Out of broodmare barn – and wins $100K Classic!

Bonnie mare Brooklyns Best (Rock N Roll Heaven) is a well-travelled racehorse, a mum, a foster mum – and has now given well-known NSW horseman David Druitt the biggest win of his harness racing career.

Brooklyns Best is back where it all began at the Druitt stable, and scored a blowout win in Listed Classic, the $100,000 TAB Riverina Regional Championship Final at Wagga Wagga (May 17).

Druitt of Brucedale, just outside the city, is entitled to have a bit of a chuckle when he looks back on his association with the eight-year-old mare, who he paid about $9000 for at an APG sale in Sydney in 2016.

“I thought she would have gone for double that, although she was a little small,” Druitt said.

Brooklyns Best went onto win seven races and between $50,000 and $60,000 under the care of Druitt, before he sold the pacer to a syndicate of owners in early 2019.

“I think Shane Tritton had first go with her and then there was probably another three or four different trainers. The syndicate got $80,000 out of her so she did a good job,” he said.

“When the horse went off a bit and lost form, they decided they wanted out. She was the type of horse who would get sick of racing with long campaigns.”

So, Druitt ended up purchasing Brooklyns Best back, with plans to start her broodmare career.

“She had a beautiful filly foal by Bling It On in 2022, then she went on to rear another foal after its mother got crook and wasn’t milking,” Druitt explained.

“But she was always running around the paddock full of energy, so I decided to put her back into training and see what happened.”

After a two-year break, Brooklyns Best resumed her racing career in October last year.

“It took a while to bring her up. I drove her a few times at the races early on and then put a few juniors on and she was racing okay but kept coming up against some really good ones.”

The mare managed five placings in 2024, before scraping into the final of the $100,000 TAB Regional Championship Final-Riverina – and blew away her rivals as a $71 chance.

“She grabbed the last spot in a qualifying heat by finishing fourth, beating the fifth runner officially by two inches. And that was My Ultimate Skeeta (Captaintreacherous) who came out and won the Consolation,” Druitt said.

“I suppose the win was my best stakemoney-wise, because we picked up $54,500. Years ago, we had wins in Sydney at Harold Park where you got $20,000 – that would have bought you two new cars back then!” he said.

Druitt drove stablemate Burton in the Regional Championship and sitting third last he had a birds-eye view of the final stages of the race.

“I thought, gee here I am out the back, and my other one is going to take out the big final. I’ve only used Peter McRae occasionally, but he’s now had two wins from four drives for me.”

And now the Druitt/McRae team has their sights set on another Listed Classic of $100,000 when Brooklyns Best travels to Menangle this Saturday night (May 25) for the TAB Regional Championship Final (State).

“It will be tough because Extreme Sea (Well Said), who won recently just outside the track record, looks the winner – but you never know, and we’ll probably be a 70/1 chance again!”

Druitt has been associated with some very nice horses over the years and has a Group Two to his name with Ideal In Dreams (Warrawee Needy) winning the NSWBC True Blue 2yo Fillies series in 2021, while Major Comment (Major Bronski) won a Gr 3 Canola Cup at Eugowra in 2019.

“I’ve always been around this region, based in Narrandera, Griffith and Leeton. The place we have now is on 360 acres and just a few kilometres from the local Wagga Wagga track, but we have a 1200-metre track so we do most of our fastwork at home.”

Druitt said he had changed some of his training philosophies in recent years.

“I’m doing a team of seven and that’s enough,” he said.

“I like training fillies and mares, and for years I was pretty standard in having them in big day yards and stuff like that.

“But most of the time now days I have 10 together in about 50-acres because I worked out that they are far happier out wandering around in paddocks.”

by Terry Gange, for Harnesslink