A RACE TO RACE DOUBLE FOR THE NOLAN STABLE

By Graham Potter | Saturday, November 27, 2021

After a week in which three meeting were lost and one transferred in South-East Queensland, trainer Michael Nolan made the most of his evening on a soft Toowoomba track on November 27 where he landed a race to race double in the second half of the meeting.

First to strike was the three-year-old chestnut Piccannini who shed his maiden ticket over 1200m in his fourth career start after placing third and fourth (on two occasions) in his previous three starts.

The daughter of El Nino started a clear favourite at $2 in a field of twelve runners and the lead on the betting boards proved to be spot on in the end, although it was nail-biting stuff in the finish in which Piccannini prevailed by the narrowest of margins over the tenacious effort of the $6 chance Bubbles ‘N’ More.

Isabella Rabjones jumped Piccannini with every intention to lead and she established that advantage very early on. Bubbles ‘N’ More, meantime, was racing some four lengths back, a position she held until the turn where Angela Jones switched her out wider on the track where the chase to try and run down Piccannini began in earnest.

The Nolan trained runner had a kick though which was too much for those closest to him at the time, but Bubbles ‘N’ More wasn’t quite done yet. She did take a while to wind up but, when she did, she accelerated in-between runners, coming out of the pack and hitting the line hard … but Piccannini had done enough to get the result.
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One race later, Rose Pin won a Maiden Handicap over 1850m.

The three-year-old filly had the 1.5kg claim of apprentice Alex Petis to help her and, arguably, that did play its part as Rose Pin ($7.50) downed the $3.50 favourite Prinente by 1.30 lengths.

Patis elected to let the early speed go as the field went past the finish post for the first time and Rose Pin was still all of six lengths back when the field went down the back straight.

You could make that eight lengths by the time the field started to take the sweep to the home turn, but when Patis gave Rose Pin more rein and stuck hard on the rail, the daughter of Worthy Cause made up ground so quickly, under a gem of ride, that she actually cornered in the leading line and then continued her run to good effect, opening up a lead of a couple of lengths halfway up the straight.

The job wasn’t quite done yet as Prinente was still coming, but Rose Pin showed no signs of giving any ground away cheaply as Patis kept her going to the line without any undue concern to score a well deserved win.

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