Ken Casellas | Photo: Pacepix
A spectacular and incident-packed event at Menangle seven years ago was the catalyst for 28-year-old reinsman Stuart McDonald being offered the opportunity to train the well-travelled Bettors Delight six-year-old Cloud Nine.
Cloud Nine’s first victory in Western Australia was achieved when McDonald drove him with great confidence to easily beat Joe With The Flow and Name In Lights in the 1730m Cowden Insurance Pace at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
This revived memories for McDonald, who was WA’s representative at the New South Wales Rising Stars series in Sydney in June 2016.
“I drove Stormont Czar for Joe Carbone, an Adelaide businessman, in a heat of the Rising Stars, and we won,” said McDonald. “I have kept in contact with him over the years, and he has given me Cloud Nine and Total Eclipse to train.”
It was quite a remarkable victory in the $25,000 Rising Stars heat, with Stormont losing valuable ground after locking wheels with Jilliby Jagger soon after the start, and then being checked and breaking into a fierce gallop about 550m later.
Stormont Czar then settled down in last position and he and Jilliby Jagger each unwound powerful finishing bursts, out wide, to cross the line locked together. The photo finish revealed that Jilliby Jagger had won by a half-head. But a protest by McDonald, alleging interference just after the start, was upheld and Stormont Czar was declared the winner.
Cloud Nine was the $1.70 favourite on Friday night when McDonald did not bustle the gelding early after starting from barrier five. Battlescard ($7) led from barrier three, with Joe With The Flow ($13) in the breeze. McDonald quickly urged Cloud Nine forward to enjoy an ideal passage behind Joe With The Flow.
McDonald waited until about 300m from home before switching Cloud Nine three wide, and the gelding sprinted strongly to get to the front 100m later and race away to win easily at a 1.56.6 rate after final quarters of 28.9sec. and 28.2sec.
“Cloud Nine won easily, and he seems to be getting better with every run,” said McDonald, who is now preparing a team of three — Cloud Nine, Total Eclipse and an unraced Art Major three-year-old — at the Serpentine property of champion trainer Gary Hall Snr.
“I have a small team now, and one day I hope to be training more.”
Cloud Nine won twice from 16 New Zealand starts and won four races at Menangle and one at Melton before arriving in Western Australia where his eight starts have produced Friday night’s victory and three second placings. Cloud Nine now has raced 55 times for eight wins, 15 seconds and one third for stakes of $104,181.
His half-brother Hit The Sky has earned $113,034 from 12 wins and 30 placings from 84 starts. He won twice in New Zealand, three times in both Victoria and South Australia and also won four times from 20 appearances in WA in 2021.