Love shines through on Mekka Wednesday

KELLY Schweida and Darlene Duryea have Saturday ambitions for impressive Mekka Wednesday winners Love A Rose and Sunny Victory.

Holiday celebration: Love A Rose (right) gets up from an outside gate to win before a good crowd at Doomben. Picture: Jono Searle

KELLY Schweida and Darlene Duryea have Saturday ambitions for impressive Mekka Wednesday winners Love A Rose and Sunny Victory.

In front of a crowd that ranks in the top three for Brisbane racing each year, maiden filly Collar Up received a roar akin to a Stradbroke as she edged home in the first event of the day at Doomben on Wednesday.

The 14,000-strong crowd held their enthusiasm for the racing throughout the afternoon, a rarity for the youthful modern audience, which usually diverts attention to other pursuits on such days.

Love A Rose is a half-sister to 10-times Singapore victor Super Winner and seems to have inherited plenty of the family talent.

Glen Colless snagged her back to near the tail from a bad gate and despite over-racing in the early stages, she was able to pick her rivals up and win in impressive style.

“She doesn’t know what to do yet and she still wanted to over-race but I think she’s well above average,” Schweida said.

“I wanted to run her in a Saturday race 10 days ago, but she drew bad that day too, so we had to run here. I like her.”

Sunny Victory was originally earmarked for life in Hong Kong, but he was diagnosed as a Grade 5 roarer before he raced and had to have a tie-back operation.

Big Wednesday: the annual Mekka race meeting at Doomben. Picture: Jono Searle

“He won impressively on debut, but then got cardiac arrhythmia at his second start and that probably put paid to him going to Hong Kong for the time being,” Duryea said.

“He’s definitely a horse up to Saturday races and he was able to down a talented mare (Pepperano) to win today, so it was a good effort.”

Duryea trains a team of 20 horses at Beaudesert, with half of those being prepared for export to Hong Kong.

Rob Heathcote’s pair True Royal and Silento are also destined for metro Saturdays after adding to their winning tallies.

“We tried Silento as a stayer last prep, but even though he’s a Savabeel, he might be best when ridden nice and quiet over a mile,” Heathcote said.

The 14,000-strong crowd held their enthusiasm for the racing throughout the afternoon. Picture: Adam Smith

Originally published as Love shines through on Mekka Wednesday