WINKERS HELP MONTE KATE CLINCH ANOTHER CITY SUCCESS
WINKERS did the trick for Kembla Grange mare Monte Kate at Warwick Farm yesterday.
And there was an emotional outcome to her victory in the Benchmark 78 Handicap (1300m).
Ridden by apprentice Mollie Fitzgerald, Monte Kate returned to the winning list, defeating Alabama Fox ($5) and Felix Majestic ($4.40).
The six-year-old daughter of champion sire I Am Invincible is raced by long-term clients Vic and Yvonne Bates of father and son trainers Rob and Luke Price, and outlaid $400,000 to secure her as a 2022 Inglis Australian Easter yearling.
“Mrs Bates named the mare after her late mother, and understandably was very emotional after the race,” Luke Price said today.
“Vic (a former Hawkesbury trainer) and Yvonne have been great supporters of our stable for many years, and it was fantastic to get another win for them with this mare.
“We put winkers on Monte Kate because she has had a tendency to jump in the air at the start.
“They have been on her before a couple of years back, and it was time to use them again.
“It certainly made a difference yesterday.
“She jumped well, got straight on the bridle and was always going to be hard to beat.”
Monte Kate had the pacy Felix Majestic in her sights throughout, albeit a couple of lengths astern to the home turn, then reeled in her down the running.
It was the mare’s seventh success and, in terms of the number, is following in the hoofbeats of her dam, the Dubawi mare Arabian Gold.
The latter won nine races, including Group 2 and Group 3s, and was runner-up to Tinto in the 2014 Group 1 Queensland Oaks (2400m) at Eagle Farm.
Whilst it was Monte Kate’s first triumph since February at Canterbury, she is now a five times metropolitan winner, and remarkably was sent out at $21.
“Very surprising odds,” Luke Price said.
“Monte Kate had finished fourth to Liztomania in a good class Benchmark 94 Handicap (1200m) at a Saturday meeting at Rosehill Gardens on August 26.
“She dropped back both in grade and to midweek company yesterday, and Mollie’s 2kg claim brought her in nicely.”
Team Price has both Island Dec (Tommy Berry) and Me Me (Tyler Schiller) engaged in the Midway Benchmark 72 Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday, but Monte Kate’s good fortune yesterday didn’t carry on to the barrier draw.
Both mares drew the outside barriers in a field of 15, though there have so far been two withdrawals.
“We also accepted with Me Me (Mitchell Bell) for the Provincial Benchmark 64 Handicap (1200m) at home on Saturday,” Luke Price said.
“We’ll see if there are more scratchings from the Rosehill race, but Island Dec may go to Sydney and Me Me stay for the Kembla race.”
Team Price also has recent acquisition Dances With Hooves (apprentice Deon Le Roux) and first emergency Kunis (Madison Waters) in the same Kembla Grange event as Me Me.
STORY JOHN CURTIS, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026 - PICS BRADLEY PHOTOS
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