Australia: Mare formerly trained by Cox takes 3rd in Group 1

Formerly trained by Brad Cox before she was sold last fall
for $1.5 million, four-time stakes winner Bubble Rock faded to a third-place
finish Saturday in the Group 1, US$468,020 Tiara Stakes covering about seven
furlongs on the turf at Eagle Rock, Australia.

Making her second start for Australia-based Kia-Ora Stud and
trainer Tony Gollan, the 5-year-old More Than Ready mare broke from post 14 in
the field of 17 fillies and mares. Billy Egan rode Bubble Rock (17-1) to the
front in the first furlong and kept her there until she relinquished her lead in
the last 180 yards.

Post-time favorite Bella Nipotina (1-1), a 6-year-old Pride
Of Dubai mare who had a win and two seconds in three other Group 1 races since
May 18, found the good going more to her liking Saturday. After stalking in fourth,
she ran on in the stretch to a one-length win over 4-year-old Semana (9-1).
Bubble Rock was another quarter-length back in third.

The winning time was 1:21.65 without a run-up for the 1,400
meters that are nine yards shy of seven furlongs. The early fractions were 24.09,
46.60 and 1:09.18.

Ryan Maloney had the winning ride substituting for regular
jockey Craig Williams, who was in Ukraine on a humanitarian mission. Bella Nipotina
is a homebred mare racing for trainer Ciaran Maher and lead owner Michael Christian,
a media personality and sports administrator who won an Australian-rules
football championship in 1990 playing for the Collingwood Magpies.

Maher said Bella Nipotina would target The Everest (G1) on
Oct. 19 at Randwick in Sydney. The six-furlong, US$13.3 million event is the
richest turf race in the world.

Bubble Rock was bred and owned by John Ed Anthony’s
Shortleaf Stable of Arkansas. Five weeks after breaking her maiden at Saratoga,
she won the 2021 Matron (G3) at Belmont Park. As a 3-year-old in 2022 she finished
first in the Cincinnati Trophy on the synthetic track at Turfway Park and in the
Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill Downs. Last year she won the License Fee at
Belmont six months before she was sold in the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed
sale.

Coming off a break of nearly nine months, Bubble Rock came in
a distant third on June 1 making her Australia debut in the six-furlong Magic
Millions Helen Coughlan Stakes at Eagle Farm.