Photo: Bruno Cannatelli
Emma-Lee and David Browne’s victory in the A$300,000 Listed Lexus Andrew Ramsden (2800m) at Flemington on Saturday was enormously valuable in more ways than one for the Kiwi couple.
A first black-type success for their homebred mare Basilinna (Staphanos) carried plenty of value in itself, but the Andrew Ramsden also guarantees its winner a ballot-free spot in the Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) in November.
“I’m a bit overwhelmed actually,” Emma-Lee Browne said. “Now we just have to wrap her up in cotton wool, and then we can be back here for the Melbourne Cup in November. That’s a massive thing for our stable, we’re a tiny stable, and I can’t believe it.”
Saturday’s Andrew Ramsden victory capped a strong run of autumn form for the New Zealand-bred Basilinna, who was a first-up winner over 2040m at Moonee Valley on March 22 before second placings in the A$150,000 Country Oaks (2100m) at Echuca and the Listed Port Adelaide Cup (2500m) at Morphettville.
The four-year-old was given a perfect run on Saturday by jockey Dean Yendall, who moved her across from gate 14 and took up a position along the rail in third-last.
Basilinna handled the deteriorating Soft7 track better than most in the Andrew Ramsden field, and she trucked into the race with ease coming up to the home turn.
Yendall angled her out into clear air at the top of the straight, and Basilinna quickly powered past Berkshire Breeze to take command with just under 400m to run.
Basilinna began to drift around while out on her own in the closing stages of the race, but she kept going strongly enough to beat the late-finishing Glentaneous by a length and a quarter.
“I’ve only recently started riding for the Brownes, who are a lovely family and great to ride for,” Yendall said. “To get this mare into the Melbourne Cup is a great thrill for them and also for me.
“She’d been knocking on the door. She put the writing on the wall with some nice runs in recent starts. She relished the soft ground today. We were able to get across from the wide gate and had a great run in transit, just following the fence and then getting out when we needed to. She found the line strongly down the straight.”
Basilinna is the second stakes winner for Novara Park stallion Staphanos, joining the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) winner Pignan. Basilinna is out of the Shinko King mare So Royal, who the Brownes bought for just $500 on Gavelhouse.com in 2019.
From 19 starts, Basilinna has now recorded three wins and seven placings. She has earned A$535,000 in stakes. As a three-year-old, she placed in the Gr.1 VRC Oaks (2500m), Gr.2 Kewney Stakes (1600m) and Gr.3 Ethereal Stakes (2000m).
“This is a horse that means a lot to me,” Emma-Lee Browne said. “We bred her and it’s absolutely amazing.
“David actually bought her mum for me after I lost my good jumper Monarch Chimes – she’s by the same sire, Shinko King. I laughed at the time and said ‘you can’t replace him’, but now I think he’s done a pretty good job.
“I just can’t believe she did that today. When the rain started coming, we were pretty confident. But she’s an absolute princess and I started to worry whether it had rained too much for her. But she just did it so well.
“This is the second time Dean has given her an absolute peach of a ride. I can’t thank him enough.
“Credit to all of our team. We’ve had a great season, but this has really topped it off.”
