For over a year, Craig Weeding and connections had planned to qualify Prince of Helena for the $3 million Big Dance or the $750,000 Little Dance to be run at Royal Randwick on the first Tuesday in November.
The Wangaratta trainer went close in 2022, with his Sidestep gelding finishing third in the Dubbo Cup, only narrowly missing out on a place in the rich Country Cup finals.
Heading to Narrandera on Sunday, connections again had the Big Dance in mind, and with a mammoth 63kg on his back, Prince of Helena ($6.50) defied most tipsters, with Holly Durnan riding the six-year-old to a historic victory in the $50,000 Leeton Toyota Narrandera Cup.
Bring up the 11th and most significant win of her burgeoning career, Durnan showed patience and poise beyond her years, with the 19-year-old happy to wait at the rear of the field.
Turning for home, there was the hint of a gap, and Durnan stayed on the inside and pounced on the opportunity as Prince of Helena strode to victory, defeating the Dan McCarthy-trained Riddlero (Hannah Edgley, $3.90) by half-a-length while the fast-finishing Ruban Bleu (Nick Heywood, $5.50) finished just under a length away in third for Matthew Dale.
“It was a really clever ride, and that was probably my first comment after the race,” Weeding told NSW Country and Picnic Racing.
“The instructions were that he had galloping room and wasn’t bustled up on the fence, and she ended up bustled up on the fence, and that’s just the way the race panned out.
“Still, Holly made some excellent decisions when there was a decision to make, and the safe option would have been to circle the field and go around the outside, whereas that might have cost him the race.
“Instead, she waited quite patiently, and a gap came on the inside, and she was there to take it, and that was probably the difference between winning and losing.”
Price of Helena is no stranger to carrying big weights, but winning with 63kg is a new personal best for the Wangaratta galloper.
Weeding conceded that connections did consider their options after the weights came out, and he was allotted 66kg.
Still, the lure of the Big Dance and Country Cup riches were enough for them to take advantage of Durnan’s three-kilogram claim and take their charge to Narrandera.
“We discussed the options, but the Narrandera Cup was always the target from a long way out, knowing it was a Big Dance qualifier, so we made a commitment to come, and the weight did put some hesitation in there, but we were always going to come,” Weeding said.
“I was very confident he would carry the weight, and there is no issue with him carrying it, as he’s carried big weights a lot of his life, but the concern was the spread of weights as he was giving some horses 10kg.”
Now they have qualified for the Big Dance or Little Dance, Weeding confirmed that Prince of Helena’s preparation would be based on the $3 million final.
“We went close to qualifying last year and ran third in the Dubbo Cup and didn’t quite make the field, but we have been looking at the series all the time,” Weeding said.
“I think it is a great series, and now we can work backwards from that date and have him in the best possible place.”
Weeding enjoyed a good day at Narrandera, with his stable bringing up a double after Choice Harvest (Alysha Warren, $6) won the 1400m Benchmark 58 Handicap.
For all results from the day, click here.
