Four-year-old mare Valentino’s On has tested the patience of her trainer at times, but a small spark shown in her last campaign and the encouragement of her owners in Waikato Stud has seen that patience pay off with a win today.
At just her fourth start, the daughter of Savabeel cruised to the front with little riding from Ben Allen and she maintained the rage, hard held on the corner to cruise to victory in the Polytrack F&M Maiden Plate at Ballarat.
“That was a good win and good to see her back in form, she needs top of the ground. She pinged the gates and put herself there and I would have been horrified if Ben had dragged her back,” Henry said.
“She has sort of crept up on us a bit, the team at Waikato Stud was good enough to send her over. I said to Mark [Chittick] at the end of her last preparation that I think she’s got something there, but she might be better placed back in New Zealand.
“Thankfully, he said to me that the family was very slow maturing and he’d like me to give her another try. He was spot on with her and hopefully she can go on with it.”
Valentino’s On is a daughter of the O’Reilly mare Oh So Glam, who is a half-sister to the multiple Group 1 winners Glamour Puss and Vision And Power. And sister to the G2 Stan Fox S. winner Rare Insight.
Chittick’s patience combined with an intimate knowledge of the family of Valentino’s On means she will be destined for bigger and better things than today’s maiden win at Ballarat.
Valentino’s On will most likely head for a spell and return post the spring.