SEAN DRIVER – MARE’S CITY BREAKTHROUGH MEANT MORE THAN A GROUP 1

KURRINDA Bloodstock principal Sean Driver didn’t mince words!

The Hunter-based syndicate’s Royal Randwick victory yesterday with So You Pence really struck a chord with him.

“That meant more to me than winning a Group 1,” Driver said en route home.

“It has been such a long process to get her back to the races.

“So You Pence won at Moruya in December 2022 at only her second start, and subsequently because of a serious problem we were advised by senior vets to retire this mare.

“She had 27 months off after surgery, and it’s a real credit to a number of people that she has been able not only to continue her racing career, but also win a metropolitan race.

“It was a very special result indeed.

“Scone Equine did an amazing job to perform an Australian first operation, and then our Kurrinda Farm manager Shane Freer got very little sleep for months afterwards when she came home.

“Shane had to ice So You Pence’s feet every two hours for the first two months, and then she was floated back to Scone regularly for check-ups.

“Credit as well to our trainer Matthew Dale and his staff, who also have done a fantastic job with the mare.

“And her owners too. They have had to be so patient.”

So You Pence ($5.50) took her record to four wins (along with three placings) from only nine starts when she won the $250,000 Barn Dance (1300m) from Lisztomania ($6.50) and Ticklebelly ($9.50).

She had finished an excellent fifth to Clear Thinking in the $2m The Kosciuszko (1200m) at Randwick on October 18.

The now six-year-old daughter of recently deceased former champ So You Think was a $125,000 purchase for Kurrinda at the 2021 Inglis Premier yearling sale in Melbourne.

So You Pence’s victory lifted her earnings to just over $281,000 – with the promise of more to come.

The mare was the first leg of a Randwick double for jockey Ash Morgan, who did such an excellent job helping educate the brilliant stayer Half Yours en route to carrying off the Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double.

He declared he would go anywhere to ride Half Yours, aware he was capable of winning major races after partnering him to a runaway victory in the Listed Caloundra Cup (2400m) in early July; the same track where he won the $3m Sunlight Plate (1100m) on Private Harry in January.

Morgan also rode Half Yours in the gelding’s return to Sydney racing at Rosehill Gardens on August 30 and was to have continued an association with him in the Group 3 Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) at Randwick on September 20.

When the gelding was in danger of securing a start, connections switched Half Yours back to Melbourne for the Naturalism Stakes (2000m), which he won with Jamie Melham aboard – and the rest is history.

Morgan later won the Benchmark 88 Handicap(1500m) on Magnatear ($10) after finishing a close second on Hollywood Hero ($5.50) in the $750,000 Little Dance (1600m).

Story John Curtis, November 5, 2025