PATIENCE is a virtue and no one knows that more than former Darwin based trainer Kathy Hughes whose hard work paid dividends after Mighty Triple Ace scored his maiden stakes win as a seven year old landing the prestigious Tunku Gold Cup (1200m).
Hughes is the first female trainer to be licensed in Malaysia and her breakthrough stakeswin is testament to her skills as a horse woman to breath new life into her charge whose future prospects looked dim after an unsuccessful stint in Singapore.
Those dark days seem a world away now after the Australian-bred seven-year-old gelding wound back the clock to his glory days to claim one of Malaysia’s most important sprint features.
It was the fourth win in five starts since Hughes took over the training duties and his record now read 37 starts for 9 wins, 9 placings and over A$300,000.
“Mighty Triple Ace is Testa Rossa’s 40th Stakes winner, he won a Malaysian Group 1 race in 2009 but it was not recognised as a Stakes race here in Australia. In fact he was a leading horse over there with 8 wins from 22 odd starts but he just couldn’t find his way in Singapore,” says Vinery’s Conor Phelan.
“It’s amazing what a change of scenery can do for a horse, obviously Kathy has him happy and well, you only have to look at how he’s racing. Full credit to her.”
“It also shows”, Phelan says, “that you’re always a chance of winning a race at any age with a Testa Rossa”.
“They are remarkably tough and sound horses,” he says, “It’s always been the trait of the Testa Rossa’s to train on and on. He has sired Group winners up to 2500m, so anything is possible with them.”
Mighty Triple Ace is out of the Scenic mare, Brave Scene, who is part of a well established Lindsay Park family whose most prominent members include the Perth Cup winner, Crown Prosecutor, and Group 3 winner Autumn Jeuney.
