Petite Poetic Music Grabs the Big Bonus

Diminutive two-year-old Poetic Music put in a classy performance to win the New Zealand Bloodstock Carnival Bonus 2YO (1200m) at her very first start yesterday in front of the Derby Day crowd at Ellerslie.

Poetic Music (Stravinsky - Flying Florence, by Centaine) was one of five Carnival Bonus eligible horses to contest the race, after the late scratching of Tipperary Miss (Volksraad) at the start.

The 15hh filly was used early to gain a handy position outside the leader Putinka (St Petersburg), after jumping from barrier 12 for apprentice jockey Jason Collett. With Collett's claim the filly carried 52kg, one and a half kilos less than anything else in the field, and the advantage proved decisive in the finish.

Poetic Music quickly claimed the lead in the straight from a tiring Putinka, but fellow Bonus eligible gelding Our Saint (My Halo) was looming large just on her outside, and the two fought it out right down to the wire, with the Stravinsky filly heading out Our Saint for the $100,000 cash bonus from New Zealand Bloodstock.

Keith Cronin of Pukekohe races the $11,000 filly whose form line reads a unique one start for one win and $124,000 in prize-money.

Cronin's first racehorse with trainer Richard Collett, Poetic Music, could not have scored a more timely win, with her owner currently battling illness.

"It was a huge thrill, and it was terrific that my two daughters could be on-course to cheer her home. I have raced horses for over thirty years, but she is certainly the best bred horse I have had, and she definitely has the most ability."

Collett purchased the filly for $11,000 for Cronin at the 2008 Carnival Sale to replace a yearling he had purchased just two months earlier from the 2008 National Yearling Sales.

"Keith was suffered the misfortune of losing his very first horse so we went to the Carnival Sale to buy a second one with the hope of more luck."

"We wanted something that would go early and she fitted the bill physically, and pedigree wise she was by Stravinsky, who can get an early horse, out of a very speedy mare."

"We thought she brought her value at $11,000 given her size, and she was a natural for the Carnival Bonus race, so we nominated her."

Richard and Judy Collet's family operation, Collett Racing Stables, have been strong supporters of the Karaka Sales, this year outlaying $487,500 for six horses, paying a top price of $280,000 for Lot 186, a filly by Pins out of stakes producing mare Pyjamas (Centaine).

"Judy and I will attend the Sales together to view all horses that could meet our clients expectations."

"We tend to buy neat bodied, well muscled individuals, who might come to hand a bit faster than the horses we receive to train from elsewhere."

Poetic Music is such a type and she is now being aimed at a possible tilt at the Group 1 ARC Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie on Saturday, the last day of Auckland Cup Week.

The Carnival Bonus' short history says she is capable of winning, with last year's inaugural Carnival Bonus winner Fully Fledged (Align) going onto to capture the 2008 Group 1 ARC Diamond Stakes just a week later.