Ken Casellas | Photo: PACEPIX
Rubies and diamonds are precious jewels, and Kyle Harper produced a gem of a drive at Gloucester Park on Friday night to land $18.40 chance Ruby Lovera a brilliant winner of the $100,000 Trotsynd Diamond Classic for two-year-old fillies.
With trainer Justin Prentice in Sydney, preparing star four-year-old Never Ending for the $2.1 million Eureka on September 7, Harper was delighted to accept the drive after Maddison Brown opted to handle Ruby Lovera’s stablemate Winter Wonder in the Group 2 feature event.
Harper revealed great skill to achieve Ruby Lovera’s notable victory. Ruby Lovera began quickly from the No. 4 barrier, and Harper had to restrain the filly from the breeze to obtain an ideal position, three back on the pegs.
And then in the final lap Ruby Lovera was hopelessly hemmed in on the inside before Harper was able to ease the filly off the pegs about 300m from home and finally get into the clear 150m from the post before sprinting fast to get up and beat the pacemaker and $2.50 favourite Bettagetonpip by a half-neck, with Copper Head Lady ($3) a head away in third place.
This gave Prentice his fourth success in the Diamond Classic, following wins with Lady Luca in 2016, Majorpride (2018) and Always An Angel (2020).
Ruby Lovera, a filly by boom American sire Sweet Lou, is the seventh foal out of the New Zealand-bred Badlands Hanover mare Lovera, whose third foal Eagle Rox won the Diamond Classic in June 2012 when trained and driven by Prentice’s father Kim, who had a quinella result with Bettor Dreams finishing second, with Justin in the sulky.
Lovera’s first foal Artemis Belle also was a filly who was an outstanding two-year-old in 2010, with her six wins from eight starts that season including the Group 1 Sales Classic in April, and then not contesting the Diamond Classic in June.
Justin Prentice selected Ruby Lovera at the 2023 Perth APG yearling sale and he bought her for $70,000. She is raced by a syndicate of 16 and she has earned $71,374 from two wins and three placings from six starts.
Harper revealed that Prentice had telephoned him from Sydney a few hours before Friday night’s race, saying that he needed to give the filly a soft run.
“Justin said that he had a big opinion of Ruby Lovera,” said Harper. “However, he said he was a little disappointed with her previous run (when a well-beaten second to Copper Head Lady in a qualifying heat of the Diamond) and a blood test had suggested that she wasn’t at her top, and that I should drive her a bit quiet tonight.
“If we drive her with confidence, I don’t think she can win. If we drive her soft and set her up to run fourth, we might have a chance (of winning) if things go our way.
“So, I said to him, you want me to produce a Justin Prentice special, by driving her cold and get over them late. He rang after the race and I said you wanted a Justin Prentice special, and I delivered a Justin Prentice special.
“When Copper Head Lady (at barrier two) galloped at the start, I came across to the breeze and nobody else seemed to want that position (on the pegs). Ruby Lovera was quite keen, and I couldn’t get her to the pegs straight away.
“We did have to angle back sharply to find that position on the pegs which I thought was the place to be. I had to work her to get in there, and once there she travelled beautifully.
“We were inconvenienced in the last lap (when Jaxs Ideal broke briefly 550m from home) and lost a length and a half. Before that, I thought I was some hope, but then I said ‘there goes my chance.’ Coming to the corner I still had a lapful of horse, and I started angling for a run before managing to bullock my way out. We got clear just in the nick of time.”
The final quarters were run in 28.3sec. and 29sec., and Ruby Lovera rated 1.58.5 over the 2130m.
Bettagetonpip set a solid pace from the No. 1 barrier and looked the winner when almost two lengths clear of her nearest rival with 70m to travel. She fought on grimly but was unable to deny Ruby Lovera. Bettagetonpip’s stablemate Copper Head Lady was unlucky, finishing a head away in third place after galloping at the start.
While Prentice and Harper shared the limelight in Ruby Lovera’s victory, 25-year-old Katie Lally played an important behind-the-scenes role, moving to Boyanup from her city residence to help with the preparation of Prentice’s team of pacers while he is away in Sydney with Never Ending.
“I brought Ruby Lovera to Gloucester Park tonight,” she said. “On and off for about five years I have helped Justin with his horses as a stable hand. At the moment, I’m probably the deputy foreman.”