MINERVINI’S HOT STREAK CONTINUES AT WYONG

WHEN you’re hot, you’re hot!

Newcastle trainer Mark Minervini followed a double on his home track last Saturday with another at Wyong yesterday.

Bonjour Madame ($19) and Shall Be ($4.20 pictured above) – each ridden by apprentice Braith Nock – boosted the South Aussie expat’s number of winners to 16 this season, and only eight shy of a career 500.

Such is Minervini’s current streak that he has saddled six winners from his last dozen runners.

And, as with one of his winners at Newcastle last Saturday, debutante Rose Of Dubai (who cost only $4000 as a yearling), he again showed he has a keen eye for a successful bargain.

Minervini’s Wyong pair between them fetched only $25,000.

Bonjour Madame was a $17,000 purchase at the 2023 Adelaide Magic Millions sale, and Shall Be $9000 less at the Inglis HTBA sale in Sydney the same year.

Having only her third start, the three-year-old daughter of Pariah progressed from taking a Maiden Plate (1262m) at Taree on March 17 to beating six rivals in a Benchmark 64 Handicap (1200m) against her own sex at the provincials.

Shall Be resumed from a let-up to build further on his record, making it four wins (plus two seconds) from eight starts in the Provincial Benchmark 64 Handicap (1000m).

Ironically, fellow apprentice William Stanley, who was runner-up on his master Kris Lees’ Power Of The Brave ($7.50), had won on Shall Be at Newcastle in February.

Naturally delighted with yesterday’s double and his current run, Minervini said his surprise wasn’t that Bonjour Madame and Shall Be won, but that the former went out at such good odds.

“She was around $8.50 when I left home to go to Wyong, and didn’t realise she actually started the outsider of the field,” he said.

“I didn’t have a bet, but expected her to run well all the same. She has kept improving with each run.”

Minervini was at his former base when he bought the now three-year-old filly two years ago.

“Pariah wasn’t really a sought after stallion at the time, and this filly’s dam (Madama Trop Vite) won a Group 2 in the UK.”

Minervini bought Shall Be at the same Inglis HTBA sale where he got Rose of Dubai.

“Quick Tempo has the form on the board as our best horse, but this fellow is second best and heading in the right direction,” he said.

Shall Be was responsible for an excellent trial when sixth in an 820m heat at home on April 2.

He reared in the air at the start and was a long last on settling down, yet was beaten less than four lengths.

“I took the blame that day,” Minervini said. “He had been on the water walker and was feeling too fresh.

“I cantered him yesterday morning, gave him a swim and then the trip to Wyong took the freshness of him.”

Minervini has plotted Gosford’s stand-alone metropolitan Saturday meeting on May 10 for the three-year-old’s next assignment.

“It’s the Thunder Thousand Benchmark 78 Handicap (1000m), and it’s worth $200,000,” he said.

Fellow Newcastle trainer Paul Perry also was successful at Wyong, landing the CG&E Benchmark 64 Handicap (1200m) with $8.50 chance Puerto Banus (Anna Roper) in a tight finish.

This was another Newcastle quinella, with Scott Aspery’s Annulus ($41) on resumption finishing strongly along the inside from last on the home turn.

. HOOFNOTE:  Kembla Grange trainer Kerry Parker has decided against running Flying Bandit in Group 3 company in tomorrow’s JRA Plate (2000m) at Royal Randwick.

Instead, he has a number of options with the four-year-old, who has won five of his 10 starts.

Parker is considering starting Flying Bandit either on the Kensington track on Anzac Day or Randwick the following day, and then backing him up the following Friday in the $200,000 Big Dance Eligibility Wagga Wagga Gold Cup (2000m).

“I’ve looked after him, and now it’s time for him to toughen up,” Parker said.

“Taking him to Brisbane for a race or two at the winter carnival is also in my mind.

“This preparation is all about getting his benchmark rating up for the spring. Hopefully he can measure up to a race such as the Group 1 Metropolitan (2400m) at Randwick.”

Story John Curtis, April 18, 2025 - Pics Bradley Photos