Litter sisters Rose Bay and See Nitro broke long runs of outs when registering a running double at last Thursday’s Tara Raceway time-graded meeting for Portland owner-trainer Andy Graham.
By Nitro Burst out of Lots Of Yap, Rose Bay led all the way in the Exchange Printers Stake (512 metres) to defeat Rough Boy Jay by 3¼ lengths in 30.00 seconds.
And See Nitro also led all the way in the Metal Worx Stake (512 m), the $34 chance causing a major upset when defeating Compton Brett by 1½ lengths in 30.02 seconds.
The wins were the first for the pair since May 13 last year when they had both been successful at Tara Raceway – Rose Bay winning over 400 metres and See Nitro clocking 29.96 seconds for the 512 metre journey.
For Graham, it’s certainly been a long road that has no turning as far as the sisters are concerned.
“Rose Bay looked set for a promising career back at the beginning of 2020 when she ran Rocketline to 2¼ lengths in a heat of the Summer Classic and was beaten only 3¾ lengths in the final by Sweet On Me.
“But May 13 last year turned out to be her next win. And with one thing after another, since then she had raced on only seven occasions prior to last week’s success,” he said.
As far as See Nitro is concerned, Graham tells a similar story to that of Rose Bay.
“Actually, she went into last week’s race also on the back of only seven starts since her last win – one interrupted preparation after another following.
“They’re now approaching four years of age but with relatively few starts hopefully they’ll be able to continue to race for a while yet.”
Meanwhile, Bay Me, another of the litter and also with Graham since a pup, is set to be mated this week to Mepunga Blazer.
Runner-up to Sweet On Me in the Summer Classic, Bay Me won nine races at Mount Gambier and two at Horsham.