Talented mare Gypsy Diamond missed the jump, but was still able to finish over the top of her rivals to return to winning form in the 2015 JRA Plate at Royal Randwick this afternoon.
Gypsy Diamond worked home impressively to record a narrow win over Leebaz in the 2015 JRA Plate at Royal Randwick this afternoon. Photo by: Steve Hart
Gypsy Diamond had not recorded a race win since she took out the Group 3 Carbine Club Stakes (1600m) at Royal Randwick on April 12 last year and it looked as though her losing streak would continue when she walked out of the gates, but jockey Sam Clipperton was still able to find a nice position for the Not A Single Doubt mare on the rail in the early stages of the race.
The four-year-old tracked into the race nicely and Clipperton was able to weave the mare through some of some her tiring rivals before she hit the line strongly in the final stages of the race to get her nose in front of a brave Leebaz to take out the JRA Plate.
Clipperton admitted that everything did not go to plan for Gypsy Diamond during the running of the JRA Plate, but he was thrilled with the turn-of-foot the mare was able to show in the last 250 metres.
“She has been going really well, Peter Snowden has had to tweak her a little bit because she has a few bad habits and she did it again today, she just walked out of the barriers,” Clipperton said.
“Luckily I was able to punch up on the fence, she relaxed quite well midrace and gee she wound up and worked through her gears nicely to hit the line strong.
“It is a great result.”
Snowden has been extremely frustrated by Gypsy Diamond since he acquired her just under a year ago and the leading trainer was clearly relieved that the four-year-old was able to record her first race win under his care.
Snowden revealed that Gypsy Diamond is always one of the best track-workers in his stable and he said that he was very pleased to finally get a result for the patient owners of the enigmatic mare.
“It has been frustrating because I know how much ability she has and she works so well at home, but just doesn’t bring her A-game to the races,” Snowden said.
“Sometimes mares get a bit of age and you wonder whether they really want to be here, but I hadn’t seen that on the track and thank god things worked out today.
“It wasn’t the plan A,B,C or D that Sammy had before the race, but he made the best of a bad thing, the run came at the right time and she was good enough to get up.
“I am really pleased for Ron and John that she has won today because she has promised so much.”
Leebaz was a big drifter in the lead-up to the JRA Plate, but he produced the best performance of his autumn campaign to date and is likely to head to Brisbane for the Group 1 Doomben Cup (2000m) at Doomben on May 9.
