Fanta Bale wins 2017 Group 1 National Distance Championship
FANTA Bale (David Bale x Ucme Typhoon Aug '14) won the sixth group race of her career when taking out Friday's Group 1 National Distance Championship (710m) at Albion Park.
Getting a start in the $75,000 to the winner feature as the AGRA wildcard, Fanta Bale was flawlessly away from box one, barging up along the fence to take the early lead from Big Easy Red (Barcia Bale x River Seine Dec '13).
Through the catching pen, Fanta Bale skipped clear of her rivals, with Big Easy Red leading the chasing brigade ahead of Outside Pass (Head Bound x Tina's Show Aug '13) as powerhouse stayer Burn One Down (Buck Fever x Fancy Jaffa Jan '14) also got into the clear back in fourth.
Coming off the back Fanta Bale's lead was slowly reducing, with Burn One Down producing a strong finishing run, however the Robert Britton-trained bitch had set up too much of a break, saluting by one length in a fast 41.71.
Big Easy Ran ran a ripper race to finish third, with Outside Pass filling the exotics back in fourth.
Owned by the Wheeler family, Fanta Bale has now won 28 of her 43 starts including five other group 1 triumphs – the Hume Cup (600m), the Australian Cup (600m), the Rookie Rebel (600m), the Sandown Cup (715m) and the Gold Cup (710m).
Friday's victory takes her prize money earnings to just above $894,000.