SHE was bred in South Australia, purchased for only $700 and has now won three of her last four starts in New South Wales.
What a story it will be if the now four-year-old mare Welcometobarbados wins the Provincial-Midway Championships Final at Royal Randwick in April?
Kembla Grange trainer Paul Murray is readying the daughter of Redoute’s Choice stallion Barbados for a shot at the series, and is giving her a short break following her victory on her home track last Saturday.
Welcometobarbados made it three wins from those last four starts, in the Provincial Benchmark 64 Handicap (1400m) at $7.50, following earlier successes at Wagga on September 21 (1400m Maiden Plate) and Goulburn on October 8 (1400m Class 1 Handicap).
Murray tried to win three in a row with the mare and took her back to Wagga on October 19 for a Benchmark 66 Handicap (1600m) when she started an odds-on favorite and finished fourth.
“She ran in the second last race that day, and wasn’t comfortable as the track was chopping up,” Murray said on Monday morning.
“It was a different story back home on better ground at the weekend, and again she showed a nice turn of foot.
“We’ll give her three weeks out and have a go at the Provincial-Midway Championships.
“Welcometobarbados keeps improving, and I feel she will eventually run 1600m.
“Her owner John Lundy is good friends with former Illawarra Turf Club racing manager
Michael Craig, who recommended us when he was looking for somewhere to agist her.”
South Coast owner Lundy bought Welcometobarbados online through bloodstockauction.com when offered by Ducatoon Park Stud Farm at Kadina on South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula.
“We bred the filly and sold her online as she wasn’t going to make a yearling sale,” the stud’s Mark Toole said on Monday.
“Her mum Melba (by Dash For Cash), who died in April last year, once held the 955m track record at Moonee Valley, and also won twice at Morphettville over 1000m and 1050m.”
The boutique farm stands the former Darley-owned Barbados at a fee of $4400. Injury forced the son of Group 1 winners Redoute’s Choice and Virage De Fortune into early retirement from the track after only five starts, which included a Canterbury 3YO Maiden (1100m) win in 2011.
Lundy tells us he was looking for a filly as a prospective breeding proposition because of his liking for the stallion Tassort.
“Unfortunately Tassort stood at $5000 when I first spotted him, and now he is $38,000,” Lundy said.
“But I liked this filly’s pedigree on both sides when I noticed she was up for sale, and bought her for only $700,” he said.
“I sent a note out to mates of mine that they could come in with me to race her for only $35 for five per cent.
“There was no problem putting a syndicate together, and I named her.”
Murray didn’t push Welcometobarbados by not racing her as a two-year-old, then gave her three starts in January and February before turning her out again for a good spell.
She hasn’t looked back since resuming as a four-year-old, winning three races.
Ironically, Welcometobarbados has also been to the races twice this preparation – and not got a start.
Murray had her ready to resume in a $60,000 Super Maiden Handicap (1400m) at Tuncurry on September 13, but the meeting was halted after only one race was run.
Then she was in a Benchmark 58 Handicap (1600m) at Nowra on November 3, and missed out again.
“I thought Paul was joking when he came and told me the rest of the meeting was off,” Lundy said.
“They had run five races, and she was in the sixth. I took some convincing before eventually realising we had missed out again.”
. HOOFNOTE: Paul Murray won’t have a runner in either The Gong (1600m) or The Warra (1000m) at his feature home track meeting on Saturday, but is looking forward to saddling Harry’s Bar for the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1200m) against her own sex.
Like Welcometobarbados, the unusually-named Harry’s Bar (by Harry Angel) is also a four-year-old mare, and a bargain buy as well.
After initially fetching $150,000 as a yearling at the Magic Millions National sale at the Gold Coast in 2022, Murray picked her up online through Inglis Digital in February this year for $18,000 as an unraced three-year-old.
She has now had four starts for a Canterbury Super Maiden (1250m) victory in August and three seconds, and has already earned $85,900.
Story John Curtis, November 18, 2024 - Pics Bradley Photos
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