Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Only two mares have been successful in the first 43 runnings of the prestigious Golden Nugget championship, but superstar pacer Aardiebytheseaside gave further proof at Gloucester Park on Friday night that she has the class to join Countess Kala (1999) and Libertybelle Midfrew (2014) as a winner of the group 1 event for four-year-olds.
The New Zealand-bred Aardiebytheseaside remained unbeaten in Western Australia when she overcame a serious early challenge and went on to score a brilliant victory in the group 3 $50,000 August Cup over 2536m on Friday night.
She appears to have an iron grip on the $100,000 Norms Daughter Classic on November 8 and the $150,000 Mares Classic the following week, and she deserves a crack at the $200,000 Golden Nugget over 2536m on December 13.
Aardiebytheseaside, prepared by champion trainers Greg and Skye Bond, was the only mare in the August Cup in which she was the $1.20 favourite from the coveted No. 1 barrier — and she made her WA record six starts for six wins when she became just the fifth mare in the 73-year history to win the race when she easily defeated Talks Up A Storm ($14) and Sangue Reale ($26).
Last December Wonderful To Fly was given her chance as the only mare in the Golden Nugget when she charged home from the rear to finish second to Tricky Miki.
Deni Roberts, who has handled Aardiebytheseaside in all her WA appearances, had to drive the mare vigorously in the early stages to fend off a powerful challenge for the lead from Talks Up A Storm, who led by a half-length for the first 200m before Kyle Harper restrained him and was able to angle the six-year-old to the pegs to follow the pacemaking Aardiebytheseaside.
After a third 400m section of 28.9sec. Aardiebytheseaside needed only a final quarter of 29.4sec. to beat Talks Up A Storm by just over a length. Roberts had no need to release the ear plugs.
“She was way better than she was at her previous start (a fortnight earlier),” said Roberts. “But she was a bit too keen for my liking. She had to burn hard early to hold her spot and I thought she would’ve overraced worse than she did. So, I’m pretty happy with that.
“She got half way down the (home) straight and wanted to knock off before taking off again. She just wants some company.”
Aardiebytheseaside is still relatively inexperienced, having had 27 starts for 14 wins, eight placings and $364,226 in prizemoney. Her victory gave the Bond stable its fourth success in the August Cup, following victories with Mister Odds On in 2009 and Vampiro in 2019 and 2021.