Monday, 17 June 2019: Trainer Joe Pride made a telling comment after his grand stayer Destiny’s Kiss defied his age to win his 19th race and take his earnings past $1.5 million with his second victory in the Winter Cup at Rosehill on Saturday.

DESTINY'S KISS winning the Winter Cup.

Pride could not resist reflecting on the day Destiny’s Kiss, now a rising 11-year-old, was offered for sale as a yearling in 2010 and failed to find a buyer, being passed in for a mere $7000.

Pride took to Twitter with the comment: “All those bloodstock agents must have slept in the day he went through the ring and passed in for $7k......19 wins for $1.5m in prize money!”

During his marvellous career Destiny's Kiss  has raced 97 times for 19 Wins and 22 placings including eight victories over 2400m.

He has never won or placed in seven starts in G1 or G2 races and has just one G3 placing in 17 starts at that level.

However in Listed Races he has started 38 times for nine wins and 12 placings. They include an earlier Winter Cup win in 2013 and three other starts in the race for a third, fifth and sixth.

"This is very, very special," Pride said. "He's the little Aussie battler up against these big European imported stayers we have now."

"He doesn't have an arthritic bone in his body which is unusual for a horse who has had even half the racing he has.

"He is the smallest horse in the stable but he has a big heart. He is just an old marvel."

Trainer Joe Pride

[b]Destiny's Kiss was retained by his breeder Nick Moraitis after he failed to sell as a yearling.[/b]

Moraitis bred Destiny's Kiss, by Power Of Destiny, from  A Fairy's Kiss, a stakes placed Stravinsky half-sister to G2 winner Abidewithme (Redoute’s Choice) and sister to Listed winner and G1 placed Miss Scarlatti.

Their dam is the G2 winner Crimson (Zabeel), a half-sister to G1 Victoria Derby winner Omnicorp (Grosvenor) and three other stakes winners.

This is also the family of Singapore champion Always Certain (Not a Single Doubt).

Destiny’s Kiss is one of six winners from A Fairy’s Kiss. She has an unraced 2YO filly by Star Witness in training with Pride and produced a colt by Rebel Raider last year before she was covered by So You Think.

• [b]Tough Hard Spun gelding Gatting got his revenge on Galaxy Star with an upset win in the G3 Hyperion Stakes at Belmont in Perth on Saturday.[/b]

The 2017 WA Derby winner reversed the form after four previous placings behind his old rival including the G1 Railway Stakes last November and at his most recent start in the G3  Belmont Sprint on June 1.

Gatting  (Hard Spun x Stubborn by Lonhro) has now won 10 races with 10 placings in 34 starts for earnings of $1,392,200.

He is one of 70 stakes winners by former shuttle sire Hard Spun, who stood in Australia for six seasons between 2008 and 2013.

His other Australian-bred progeny include the notable multiple G1 winner Le Romain.

Gatting is one of two winners out of the Lonhro mare Stubborn, a sister to the G3 winner Trim.

Trim is the dam of Listed winner Manicure (Exceed And Excel).

Stubborn is from the G3 winner Firm (Night Shift) from the family of G1-placed Faithful Thought (Water Mill).

Trainer Darren McAuliffe is planning a Melbourne spring campaign for Gatting, who will have his next start in the G3 Strickland Stakes at Belmont on June 29.

• [b]Trainer Steven O’Dea added to his long and successful association with North Queensland breeder Joe Rapisarda at Ipswich on Saturday.[/b]

The unbeaten O’Dea-trained filly Jeweliana (All Too Hard x Bianca Jewel by Lion Heart) is the latest winner the Eagle Farm trainer has prepared for Rapisarda.

It was a special result as O’Dea won five races with Jewelliana’s dam Bianca Jewel for Rapisarda including Listed races in Brisbane.

He also trained Jeweliana’s stakes winning half-sister Kiss Me Katy (Mull Of Kintyre) for Rapisarda.

Jeweliana  Jewelliana has now won both her starts and will also be given her chance to earn black type.

Jeweliana completed a 2YO double for her sire All Too Hard after hius juvenile son Can't Be Done  won the Sandown meeting in Melbourne.

Flemington trainer Danny O’Brien paid $120,000 for Can’t Be Done at the 2018 Magic Millions Gold Coast Sale.

The colt is out of Nobody Gets (Forestry), a half-sister to the G3 winner Musidora (Rock Of Gibraltar).

Musidora is the dam of the G3 winners Tulip (Pierro) and Sacred Eye (High Chaparral). 

• [b]Boom first season sire Better Than Ready has become the first stallion in 44 years to sire 20 winners in his debut season.[/b]

The juvenile filly Better Than Gold became the 20th individual winner for Better Than Ready when she won at Kilcoy in Queensland.

Better Than Gold (Better Than  Ready x Where It Began by Exceed And Excel) scored by three lengths over 800m to extend the Lyndhurst Stud-based stallion’s lead on the first season sires table by winners.

Darley stallion Shooting To Win also improved his place on the first season sire standings with his seventh individual winner at Wodonga in Victoria.

The Lindsay Park-trained Grinzinger Express (Shooting To Win x Trustam by Stratum) won her maiden over 1100m.