Bellatrix Star set to shine at Caulfield

Group One performer Bellatrix Star (Star Witness) has been plagued by issues over the last 18 months, but she will make her much-anticipated return to the track at Caulfield on Saturday.

The Fortuna Syndication-raced mare’s career was nearly cut short in January last year when she fractured vertebrae in her neck after rearing and falling over when heading back to her stable, and while she made a miracle recovery from that, she had to undergo surgery following her returning run in the Listed Doveton Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield last November.

“In January last year she had that very unfortunate fall where she flipped over backwards and broke a vertebrae in her neck,” Fortuna’s John Galvin said. “At the time the vet said she would never race again but Mark Walker (trainer) worked his magic and we were able to rehabilitate her.

“She went through a preparation with long paddock spells and a bit of dressage. When she resumed racing at Caulfield in late November, she just ran below par and the next morning we found that she had a chip in a fetlock.

“That was removed and it took some time after that for rehab and to her back going again.”

Bellatrix Star has made pleasing progress this preparation and Galvin said she is on song for her first-up assignment in the Listed Bel Esprit Stakes (1100m) at Caulfield on Saturday.

“She has had a steady preparation over the last two-and-a-half months or so, which is going to culminate in this resuming run on Saturday,” Galvin said.

“She went to Seymour for an exhibition gallop last Thursday, Luke Currie rode her and he was very positive about the way she finished off her work.

“She is lightly raced for a rising five-year-old and we are expecting a pretty good run on Saturday.”

All going to plan, Galvin said Bellatrix Star will likely be freshened with a tilt at the Gr.1 Moir Stakes (1000m) in mind at Sandown in September.

“We will probably give her a short break and if she went well, and it is results dependant, we would probably set her for something like the Moir in early September,” Galvin said.

Bellatrix Star has enjoyed a lucrative career to date, with four stakes wins to her record from just 12 starts, and a runner-up performance in the Gr.1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m), a race stablemate and fellow Fortuna filly Lara Antipova (Russian Revolution) is being prepared for in the spring.

Lara Antipova is undefeated in her four starts to date, including the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on Champions Day. While she was set to fly to Australia to join trainer Mark Walker’s Cranbourne barn for an autumn preparation, those plans were shelved after she suffered a temperature spike the day before her departure.

“She was set to fly on the Sunday but on the Saturday morning she came up with a temperature spike,” Galvin said. “While it was disappointing, sometimes these things are blessings in disguise.

“She went to the paddock instead and she had seven weeks in the paddock.”

Thriving over the break, Lara Antipova has returned with renewed vigour and travelled across the Tasman on Sunday to begin her preparation towards a Melbourne spring campaign.

“She has had 10 days work in the stable at Matamata,” Galvin said. “She travelled to Melbourne on Sunday and had her first piece of work at Cranbourne on Monday morning.

“She is now underway with a campaign aimed at the nice races in the spring. The Coolmore would be her ultimate objective, but there are some nice races along the way for her, as we found out with Bellatrix Star in her three-year-old year.”

It has been a pleasing season for Fortuna with their juveniles, with several youngsters carrying Fortuna’s silks to victory on both sides of the Tasman, and Galvin is hoping that continues this week when Bellatrix Star’s half-brother, Opunake, makes his debut at Pakenham on Friday.

“We have had a fantastic run with our two-year-olds this year,” Galvin said. “We have got five horses that could potentially have run as two-year-olds this year, three of them have been to the races, and they all won on debut – Lara Antipova and Zafar in New Zealand and Tolaga Bay at Ballarat.

“Zafar, who won the Champagne Stakes (Listed, 1200m) at Riccarton on debut, is a Snitzel colt that we didn’t pay a lot of money for. He is still a colt and we are pretty excited about him. He is spelling now and will come back into work on June 1, with the 2000 Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m) being his aim.

“We have Bellatrix Star’s two-year-old half-brother called Opunake. He won a trial at Caulfield a couple of Thursdays ago and he makes his debut at Pakenham on Friday night.”