Horse racing: Star mare Pride Of Jenni retired

Pride Of Jenni winning the $5m Queen Elizabeth Stakes in April, at Randwick. Photo / Bradley Photos

Pride Of Jenni, last season’s Australian Racehorse of the Year and a three-time Group 1 winner, has been retired following Saturday’s A$3 million Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m).

Bred by Cambridge thoroughbred nursery Trelawney Stud, Pride Of Jenni was sold through Segenhoe Stud’s 2019 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale draft for $100,000 to Tony and Lyn Ottobre’s Cape Schanck Stud.

She showed promise from an early stage and finished second in the Group 2 Rose Of Kingston Stakes (1410m), Group 1 Coolmore Classic (1500m) and Group 2 Stocks Stakes (1600m), before she burst into stardom during last year’s Melbourne Cup Week.

Adopting her devastating front-running style in the A$1m Group 1 Empire Rose Stakes (1600m), Pride Of Jenni held off fellow Kiwi-bred mare Atishu to collect her first elite-level crown, and seven days later it was deja vu for the Flemington crowd, with the daughter of Pride Of Dubai defeating Mr Brightside and Alligator Blood in the A$3m Group 1 Champions Mile (1600m) in similar fashion.

The Ciaron Maher-trained mare’s dazzling form continued into the autumn, with game second-placings in the Group 1 C.F Orr Stakes (1400m) and A$3m Group 1 Australian Cup (2000m), overshadowed by an outstanding victory in the A$3.7m All Star Mile (1600m), but even that performance was nothing compared with what she produced at Randwick on April 13.

Contesting the $5m Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), Pride Of Jenni was taken to the front by Declan Bates, and she led the field by as much as 30 lengths on her way to what was widely regarded as one of the most unbelievable victories seen on a racecourse in Sydney.

In her 7-year-old term, Pride Of Jenni continued to perform at the highest level and won the Group 2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) alongside placings in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) and $5m Group 1 King Charles III Stakes (1600m), but after unplaced runs in the A$5m Group 1 Cox Plate (2040m) and the Champions Mile, time was called on her phenomenal career.

Pride Of Jenni accumulated more than A$10m in stakes earnings through her career, and Cherry Taylor, co-director of Trelawney Stud, couldn’t have been prouder.

“She’s just been an incredible mare, a great flagship for the stud,” Taylor said.

“We’re just so proud of her. She’s such a beautifully-natured mare and so kind – it’s so lovely that she was able to fulfil the potential that she got to.

“I thought that her performance in the Queen Elizabeth, where she was out by 30 lengths, was incredible. A lot of people thought she wouldn’t be able to hold on, but she did, and it wasn’t an insignificant field. She beat Mr Brightside and Via Sistina, and other amazing horses that day.

“We were there for the Empire Rose and then went for the Cox Plate this year, and although she was coming to the end of her career, it was still amazing to be there. I was talking to her beforehand and she gave me a big kiss. She is truly a beautiful horse.

“We’re really excited for her future now – being a mare, she can go on and breed and we can watch her foals. We’re thrilled to bits to see the next chapter, and thrilled for Tony and Lyn [Ottobre].”

The dam of Pride Of Jenni, Sancerre, has a 2-year-old filly by Per Incanto that was retained by Trelawney Stud, named Pouilly Fume.

“We’ve got a third-quarter sister. She’s a 2-year-old, and we’re really looking forward to racing her,” Taylor said.

– LOVERACING.NZ news desk.