‘I’ll never get one like her again’: Eagle favourite the Jewel in crown for owner Walsh

If star Perth mare Amelia’s Jewel wins the Golden Eagle on Saturday, owner Peter Walsh will be buying wife Annie a precious stone of her own.

Walsh is loving every minute of owning a “freak” – his description of the favourite for the $10 million race at Rosehill.

Peter Walsh has promised his wife Annie a diamond if Amelia’s Jewel wins the Golden Eagle.Credit: Getty

“That’s what she is, there’s no other term for her,” Walsh said. “I wouldn’t have her without Annie.“
A few years back, Annie was looking for a surprise gift for her husband – the man who seemingly had everything – and hit upon the idea of taking him to Royal Ascot.

Their trip took in several stud tours. They were impressed with unbeaten superstar Frankel, it was Kingman that Annie loved. “I just said, ‘Wow, he is the most beautiful horse I’ve seen’,” Annie said.
Later, in France, Peter and bloodstock agent Louis Le Metayer saw Siyouni, the sire of Amelia’s Jewel.

“He walked out and it was just, ‘Look at me’. He had everything you want in a horse,” Peter said.
“I was there with Louis and I told him to buy me two mares and send one to Kingman and one to Siyouni. That is how this began.”

The 68-year-old Walsh owned his first horse at 18, so it has been a long wait to find Amelia’s Jewel. Trainer Simon Miller quickly realised her freakish qualities as a two-year-old but didn’t want to tell Walsh just how good she was.

“I knew Walshy would get excited if I told him,” Miller said. “I was always going to get one of the two horses he bred over there, but he told me he would sell the colts and keep the fillies.

“The Kingman [foal] was a colt and it sold for $650,000 and isn’t much good. Amelia’s Jewel was a filly when I got her. It might be the best thing that has happened to me as a trainer. I’ll never get one like her again.”

Amelia’s Jewel has been the favourite at all 12 of her starts. She has won nine and only missed a place once, and that was in group 1 Toorak Handicap. But Miller says her best attribute is her insatiable appetite.
“She just licks the bin out every time we put it in front of her,” Miller said. “That’s why we knew something wasn’t right after the Toorak, because she left feed.

“It was a concern for a couple of days, but it was just a bug, and then she started smashing her food again. She runs times that nothing else can, but I have never had one eat like her. She came up [to Sydney] on Wednesday night. It was the first time she had a 10-hour float trip. We fed her when she arrived and a couple of hours later it was gone. It’s incredible.”

Amelia’s Jewel has dominated in Perth and won a Northerly Stakes as a three-year-old filly against the older horses before heading east for the spring and picking up the Let’s Elope Stakes at Flemington and Stocks Stakes at Moonee Valley.

“I want to show how good she is. And you can only do that over here. She won those two races in Melbourne and ran a track record at Moonee Valley, and I think it was my best night in racing,” Walsh said. “I have been offered stupid money for her, but you don’t get another Amelia’s Jewel, and I’m going to enjoy her.

“This is the race I have wanted to win with her against all the horses of her generation, and it’s worth $10 million. It is where she can show she is the best.
“If she does win the Golden Eagle, Annie gets a big diamond because we are only here because of her.”

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