Tattersall’s Tiara favourite Bella Nipotina is an unsung phenom in Australian racing as her career continues to climb to new heights at an age most elite racemares are preparing for motherhood.
For the past 12 months, Michael Christian admits the same thought crosses his mind every time Bello Nipotina goes to the races.
Will one of the most enduring careers in the modern era of the turf have its final moment?
The last hurrah for a mare that has built a following because of an appetite for competition that shows no signs of slowing and a record that challenges the wisdom of early retirements that are part and parcel of Australian racing.
Trainer Ciaron Maher has been trying hard to find a reason not to run Bella Nipotina in the $700,000 Tattersall’s Tiara at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
He can’t. It’s a decision that leaves Bella Nipotina chasing her third Group 1 win at the 52nd start of a career that began as a spring two-year-old and is going stronger than ever as a rising seven-year-old.
Christian, as he has done for the past year, will take a front-row seat at Eagle Farm not knowing if the horse he bred, sold and then bought back into, will grace the racetrack for the final time.
It’s a scenario that could have easily unfolded in Adelaide, Sydney, Perth, Brisbane or Melbourne as Bella Nipotina crisscrossed the country to run in the best races.
If Maher, Christian and his racing partners were worried about all the travel and the workload, the first crop daughter of Pride Of Dubai has found a way to put their minds at ease.
Upwards and onwards, all the way through a Brisbane winter carnival campaign that was meant to be kept to two starts but has been extended to four.
“We've been sort of going to pretty much every race start for the last 12 months, thinking that we want to make sure we go in case it's her last start,” Christian told The Straight.
“So we've milked it for all it's worth. And she's given us just so much joy and excitement and happiness. It's just amazing.
“As the old MasterCard ad says, it’s been priceless.
“She’s the horse of anyone's lifetime. She's just been incredible to think that she races so competitively.
“She arguably could have even won the Debutant Stakes as an October two-year-old and now almost five years later she is in arguably the best form of her career.”
“As the old MasterCard ad says, it’s been priceless." - Michael Christian
Bella Nipotina tried to rewrite the record books giving weight to her rivals in the Stradbroke Handicap but came up agonisingly short when beaten narrowly by Stefi Magnetica.
Nevertheless, it is a piece of form that makes her a worthy favourite to close off Australian Group 1 racing for the season and add the Tiara to her Manikato Stakes and Doomben 10,000 victories at the highest level.
For Christian, a Stradbroke victory would have been Bella Nipotina’s crowning moment.
“I was just disappointed for her because I think she deserves to be recognised as an absolute elite racehorse because she's flown under the radar for a long time,” he said.
Despite her unassuming place among Australia’s best racehorses, statistics put Bella Nipotina in rare air.
By winning the Doomben 10,000 at her 49th start, Bello Nipotina already ranks above the great mares to have raced in Australia on the score of longevity and success at Group 1 level.
Sunline did it at her 44th start, Winx at her 43rd, Makybe Diva at her 36th and Black Caviar retired unbeaten after winning the TJ Smith Stakes at her 25th outing.
The Straight has gone back through the records and can’t find a mare in Australia who has won a Group 1 race after their 50th start.
In terms of prize money, Bella Nipotina’s $10.5 million in earnings puts her only behind Winx, Verry Elleegant and Sunline on the all-time list for racemares.
She has raced on 11 different racetracks across the country and her bond with champion jockey Craig Williams is a special one.
Williams has ridden Bella Nipotina 17 times, winning five races, including her Manikato and Doomben 10,000 triumphs.
Ryan Maloney will become the 18th jockey to ride her when he climbs on board for the Tiara, deputising for Williams who is in Ukraine delivering humanitarian aid in the war-torn region.
Christian says the question of whether Williams gets the opportunity to reunite with Bella Nipotina for another campaign will be addressed after the Tiara.
“It's all a bit up in the air at the moment,” he said.
“But until we get through Saturday and most importantly see how the horse is and then we’ll get together and see what everyone's thoughts are.
“It is interesting because we had the discussion last year about whether to go to stud or whether to continue racing.
“I haven't done the numbers to be honest, but I think she's won something in the order of five or six million (dollars) since then in the last 12 months so that decision was vindicated.
“But when you look at the sprinting ranks in the country right now she's measured up to the best of them and we've had a couple of chats with people concerning Everest slots for this year as well.”
