OH SO SWEET DOLLY ... AND THAT UNBEATEN RECORD

By Graham Potter | Wednesday, March 17, 2021

It is a fairy-tale story of a racehorse that cost next to nothing carrying all before her as she continues to build a reputation that would be worthy of any budding champion.

Sweet Dolly has a long way to go of course to reach that ultimate champion status, but the way she is taking the steps up the ladder … now sitting with four wins from four starts … is difficult to fault.

Justin Stanley has been in the saddle in each of the Kevin Hansen trained runner’s starts to date, from the Maiden win over 1000m in Townsville (where she romped in by 5.80 lengths) to her win in the $500 000 QTIS Two-Year-Old Jewel at the Gold Coast on Saturday, and he was happy to share his thoughts on his association with Sweet Dolly and how the filly had progressed over that four start period.

“I knew before the Maiden win that she went pretty well,” said Stanley. “She trialled very well, and she started a short-priced favourite.

“It was a pretty ordinary race to be honest but, because of the way she won and how far she won by … I came back and I said to Kevin (Hansen) that she was very smart and I thought she was definitely up for the city … but, at that stage, I just couldn’t tell him how good she might be because she just did it so easy.

“She just travelled and every time I asked her, she found. She was just so relaxed. I didn’t know whether I had much left or whether she was full, but she definitely gave me the impression she was very good. You can only beat what is in front of you and the way she won and the time she ran was pretty good.”

Go to town she did with Hansen posing Sweet Dolly a stern test in only her second career start in the Listed Calaway Gal over 1000m at Eagle Farm just two weeks after her Maiden win.

The opposition here included the likes of the Ciaron Maher and David Eustace trained Fake Love, who had won the Listed Debutant Stakes at Caulfield and then run third behind Dosh in a Group 3 at Flemington. Fake Love would start favourite at $3.20 with the Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott trained Summerbeel the second favourite at $4.20.

In the end though, Sweet Dolly ($6.50) proved too strong for all of her opposition becoming a Listed race winner in style.

Not that it was easy.

At the 300m mark Sweet Dolly was still two-and-a-half lengths adrift of the flying Fake Love, who was already being hailed the winner, and Stanley was still looking for room to be able to switch Sweet Dolly into clear air.

Shortly after he did that, Sweet Dolly wanted to run out, which could have been a costly mistake had she not shown quite outstanding acceleration after Stanley straightened her and she cut down the leader with a flourish out wide to keep her unbeaten record intact.

“I think she maybe got spooked by that big screen at Eagle Farm,” said Stanley. “She ran off the track and she raced pretty erratic … but that was probably only the last 300m. She was perfect before that.

“The last 200m, 300m she was pretty erratic and green, but she was still able to win convincingly in the end by just under a length.

‘After that we knew a little bit more about her. We definitely knew she was above average then. She did a fair bit wrong, and she was still able to beat a fairly strong field, so we definitely felt we had a real horse on our hands then.”

Sweet Dolly was then given two-and-a-half months between runs before she resumed at the Sunshine Coast in The Jewel Prelude for Two-Year-Old Fillies, again over 1200m.

“I think people probably expected her to be very hard to beat, but I don’t think anyone expected her to win like that,” said Stanley, referring to Sweet Dolly’s demolition job on the opposition without ever really getting out of second gear.

“She drew the outside gate, and she was in front on the fence in the space of 100m. Again, the way she won was really impressive. She beat the second placed Glorious Ruby, who had won her last two, by 4.80 lengths.”

Then it was on to the big one … the $500 000 QTIS Two-Year-Old Jewel at the Gold Coast, stepping up to 1200m.
“I was pretty confident that, if she handled the track, I was on the best horse in the race and she would win,” said Stanley.

“I was one hundred percent certain she would get the 1200m. I thought she would handle the track as well … because she had race well on the soft at Caloundra … but I was more concerned about the combination of being first-up over 1200m and being on a very heavy track.

“it was like a 1300m or 1400m race on Saturday … the track was that heavy and testing.

“That was my only concern and how her fitness was going to be taking on those conditions. In hindsight, coming into Saturday, I was thinking I sort of half wished I had giving her a bit of a harder run at the Sunshine Coast … because she got it pretty soft.

“As it turned out the two horses that led up in the Jewel Prelude for colts … one drew inside me, one drew outside me. They both led me, and I was able to end up third on the fence.

“Coming to the 500m, the leader had sort of had enough and my only option was to go back to the fence. I walked the track earlier and anywhere near the fence was like quicksand so I was a fraction worried being on the fence, but I knew that would probably only be for another 100m and that I would be able to get back out once I crossed the leader. Staying inside was the last thing I wanted to do at that stage, but I had no other option.

‘Coming to the turn, I was able to cross the leader and get back to where I wanted to be. We got to the middle of the track … and I just held her up and nursed her as long as I could and she did the rest.

“She never really handled the track. She got through it … but even in the run she never really travelled as strongly as she normally does. She did give a good kick, but she was struggling, but she just tried so hard. It was only her ability and class that got her over the line.

“To be honest, I was probably a little bit more nervous going to Caloundra because she was first-up … but I had no nerves on Saturday at all and it worked out perfectly.
“The Rocky Boys got them … one-two … in the big smoke.” (Both Kevin Hansen and Graeme Green, who saddled the second placed Ahooshu, ridden by Nathan Day, are trainers based in Rockhampton. A further nice touch is that Mandy Stanley strapped Ahooshu keeping the quinella, in a manner of speaking, in the Stanley family).

“I have definitely seen her maturity develop over this time,” continued Stanley. “She is not a big filly but, even after the short spell she had after her first two runs, back riding work and trials, she looked like she had filled up around the shoulders and the girth a bit.

“It is great to ride for Kevin. He’s the best. He is so easy going. He hasn’t given me instructions in any race I’ve ridden Sweet Dolly. So, there is no pressure from him no matter what the horse’s price or anybody’s expectations.

“Kevin and his wife are two of the nicest, most down the earth people you have ever met. He does a great job with the small team he has always had, so it is no surprise he has done a great job with Sweet Dolly.

“They had big offers for her, and some people thought she should be heading for the Golden Slipper, but the money and the glory has never been Kevin’s main focus. His horses always come first … he is always just thinking about their best interests and their long-term future … and Sweet Dolly is no exception. She comes first.

“It’s the same with the owners. They love her. They want to race her. Michelle Walker and her husband have been long-time clients of Kevin and they are just over the moon with Sweet Dolly.

“She wouldn’t have been out of place down there in The Slipper next weekend. I’m not saying she would have won, but she could have earned her place in the race, but, for the reasons I mentioned, Kevin was not going to take her there.

“It has been a fantastic four runs.

“The Gold Coast was her fourth start for four wins at fourth different racecourse on three different track ratings.

“She’s done it all the little girl.”

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