Diamond gets sweet trip to win Belle final

Harness racing driver Jonny Cox was surprised Advance Party (Bettor’s Delight) led and didn’t relinquish the front in the $40,000 Vetsouth Equine/SSBA Southern Belle Final at Winton today, but that suited him and his charge Sweet Diamond (Sweet Lou) just fine.

From one on the second row Cox got the perfect trip behind Advance Party. When that horse began to battle just before turning in, Cox eased Sweet Diamond off the running line and she was too strong, winning by two and a half lengths from Ideal Double (American Ideal) which came home late.

“When the parked one started stopping, I thought I’d get out and get going and make the rest chase me,” Cox said.

The winning time was 1-53.5 – just 0.2 seconds outside the race record of 1-53.3 set by Break Dance when she won the 2017 Southern Belle Final when also driven by Cox.

“We had the perfect trip. I couldn’t see Nathan leading with the gate speed that Kalua Flybye and Fernleigh Blackbird had, but once Nathan did lead I thought we were going to be a great chance.”

There was a good level of confidence going into today’s mare’s feature although stablemate Kalua Flybye was expected to be the leading stable contender.

“Her work (Sweet Diamond) this week was really good but it was always going to be what sort of luck we had during the running. We definitely got a lot of luck.”

Trained by Steve and Amanda Telfer, Sweet Diamond’s win was the second time the Telfers have won the Southern Belle, winning the 2020 edition with Darling Me.

The win capped off a brilliant day for the Stonewall Stud team. They won four races which puts them back on the top of the New Zealand Trainers Premiership.

by Bruce Stewart, for Harnesslink