A stellar run for Kembla Grange trainer Theresa Bateup continues, with Monegal romping home to claim the $130,000 Benchmark 78 Handicap at Rosehill on Saturday.
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A month after being pipped at the post on a heavy track at Canterbury, the six-year-old mare peeled out at the top of the straight and stormed home to salute in dominant fashion.
Despite being sent out as the $21 outsider of the field, Monegal bolted clear to score by a widening 1-3/4 lengths in Sydney.
It proved to be an impressive win for jockey Sam Clipperton, who picked up the ride after Kembla-based jockey Brock Ryan went north to ride at the Magic Millions.
"I had a good chat to Brock Ryan about this horse and he said 'be careful, she'll hit a flat spot'," Clipperton said.
"Regan Bayliss [on For Valour] got a pretty easy time and backed it off down the side and I was there ready to pounce and I was thinking 'what flat spot's he talking about'.
"I was always confident even though I made a sweeping run into it. I hardly asked her for an effort and it was just a matter of timing my run and pressing the button at the right time.
"I couldn't believe what odds she was [at] before the race because her run at Stakes level in the Belle Turf [last-start] was really good.
"She only had to repeat that effort in this race to be a winning chance and that's what she's done. Very well done to Theresa Bateup, she's got this horse going very well."
It continues a stellar run for Bateup, who had Divine Breath finish third in the Four Pillars at the same track in October before she went on to headline a stable double on The Gong day at Kembla a month later.
A modest $3000 purchase, Monegal's victory moved the needle past $450,000 in prize-money with her eighth victory.
"She's a little superstar, she's just so honest and she thoroughly deserved another win next to her name," Bateup said.
"It'd been a little over 12 months since she'd won but she's put on some super efforts. I was rapt with where she was on the run, Sam got into her a beautiful spot.
"Usually she hits that bit of a flat spot and sort of flounders for a little while before she really gets going, but it was just a very easy watch.
"She's just a little stable star, we love her."
It was a less memorable day for fellow Kembla trainers Robert and Luke Price, who were left wondering what could have been after star filly Jamaea never saw clear air in a luckless $2m Magic Millions 3YO Guineas on the Gold Coast.
Back on board for the first time since steering her to victory in the $1m Percy Sykes Stakes last April, star hoop Tommy Berry failed to see daylight when he needed to closest the fence as main rival King of Sparta sailed down the outside to claim victory.
The father-son training team will now set their sights on a maiden Group 1 in the Surround Stakes at Randwick on February 26.
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