Inset: Trainer Paula Trenwith and jockey Nichola Yuen show off their Silver City Cup trophies.
There are too many superlatives to describe The Ladies Man’s win in Saturday’s $17,000 Silver City Cup (1600m) at Broken Hill.
The Morphettville galloper, proudly trained by Paula Trenwith, commenced the $3.50 second-favourite before cantering to victory, finishing almost 13 lengths ahead of his nearest rival.
Ridden by two-kilogram claiming apprentice Nichola Yuen, there was no beating the seven-year-old, who led the field comfortably before applying the blow torch and leaving his rivals in the Broken Hill dust.
“It was unbelievable,” Trenwith said,
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a horse win by that far.
“There were no leaders in the race, and leading is his favourite thing to do, and he just bowled along in front.
“I was watching and thought to myself, ‘I hope you still have some petrol in the tank’, and he was five in front as they reached the top of the straight and after a slight slap on the neck, he just took off like a rocket and left them in his wake.”
The Zoustar gelding is now an eight-time winner, and he boasts a good record at Broken Hill, having started there four times for three wins.
“He just loves it there,” Trenwith said.
“It could be the wide-open expanses, the sand, or the Emus in the background, but whatever it is, he loves it at Broken Hill.”
Trenwith is a feature-race specialist at Broken Hill, with The Ladies Man delivering connections their second Silver City Cup.
The South Australian trainer won her first back in 2013 with Defonet, while she has won the Outback Cup four times, with Nozi prevailing on three straight occasions between 2007-09 before It’s Fred triumphed in 2017.
“I love racing at Broken Hill and going and supporting these meetings,” Trenwith said.
“The committees are fantastic, and I think it is really important we get out and race at these meetings.”
Trenwith is as dedicated as they come, and she travelled the 800-kilometre roundtrip to Mildura on Melbourne Cup Day to win the Malle Cup with Kayseri (Randy Tan, $9).
Four days later, she made the nearly 1100-kilometre roundtrip to Broken Hill to win the Silver City Cup.
“I was pretty tired when I got back home,” Trenwith laughed.
“There’s not much change out of six hours driving to Broken Hill, which was after Mildura on Tuesday, but the old horses love it, and he (The Ladies Man) thrives so much.
“If I take him to Morphettville, he carries on like a kid on red cordial, and there at home, he’s in a box, but these trips stimulate these old horses, and they are generally stabled in a bigger day yard and can see more, buck around, and just enjoy themselves.”
It was another good day’s racing at Broken Hill, with the meeting conducted in warm but safe conditions.
For all results from Silver City, readers can click here.
