Gushing – Champion Older Female Turf Long

Champion Older Female Turf Long

Gushing

Monsun x Sadler’s Wells x Roberto

Owner/Trainer – Balata

Record 2014 – 10-7-1-0

Lifetime Earnings – $4,129,860

2014 Stakes Wins – South Australian Cup G1, Gold Glass G1, Longchamp Marathon G1, Millwood Cup G1, Fitness Cup G2, Longdale Cup G2, Compelling Grace Turf Mare Special L

Gushing Top Mare of 2014

To say Gushing is the Champion Older Female in the Turf Long division is almost a disservice to the campaign this courageous mare ran in 2014.  Gushing was the highest rated mare in the game at any surface or distance in 2014.  She was the second highest ranked turf horse behind only Montjeulry, winner of the Breeders’ Bowl Turf and the third highest ranked horse in the game overall with Horse of the Year I Won’t Look Back less than 400 points higher than her on the End of Year Ratings.  The second highest rated mare at any age, distance or surface was the thirtieth best horse in the game.  Gushing’s year was really that good.

Gushing was truly in a class by herself in 2014.  With four grade one victories against males she easily outpaced the competition in her division.  Runner up was Schauspielhaus, a dual grade one winner who took the Breeders’ Bowl F and M Turf by open lengths.  In third place was another dual grade one winner, My Role Model who was 2013’s Champion 3yo Filly Turf.  Her wins included an Equinics Victory.  In any other year either mare would have been a worthy champion.  But 2014 was different.  It was Gushing’s year.

Gushing was a scratch breeding for Balata who has had some success with the now deceased stallion Monsun.  Expecting a late developer, Balata did not debut his well bred filly until October of her two year old season.  She started with an even, albeit off the board, effort in a sprint.  She broke her maiden well in her second outing when going a mile in November.  Balata knows the benefit of patience and rest, especially with a young horse and did not bring Gushing back for over three months.  His patience was rewarded with an allowance win going nine and one half furlongs and a listed stakes win going a mile and one quarter.  Balata knew he had a nice filly on his hands and moved her into graded stakes but was conservative in the amount of distance he threw at her initially.  She missed the board in three grades in which the longest distance she ran was a mile and three eighths.  She did finish fourth in two of those races but it was her turn in the mile and five eighths Grade One Vicky Oaks in November when Gushing started to really turn it on.  She closed from over ten lengths back to lose by just one half-length in the shadow of the wire.  In her final start as a three year old she ran poorly when dropping back to a mile and one half in a grade two.

Gushing was showing an obvious affinity for distance – but how much did she want?  Her championship season began with a win in a listed stakes at a mile and three quarters.  Facing a four horse field of mares she charged to the lead, a position she had never seen early in a race before in her life and ran the field off its feet scoring a dazzling victory.  But where would Balata go next?  There are few big turf races at a mile and three quarters or longer on turf in the game and they are almost exclusively open to all horses.  Perhaps it was the Hall of Fame mare Magniforma, trained by Balata’s Empire State Racing Residency mate Frankster who inspired the wily trainer to take the leap to two miles against males in the Grade Two Fitness Cup.  Even without experience under the conditions Gushing was sent off as the fourth choice in the fourteen horse field.  The field included grade one winners Contratiempo, Lemon Drop Mini Moo and Delta Cause with Lemon Drop Mini Moo favored slightly over Contratiempo.  Gushing did not find herself on the lead in this spot but she was second early, six lengths behind leader Mont Vegas.  Mont Vegas held on to that top spot into the stretch but Gushing closed sharply to take the lead late and pull away to a one length victory.  Her time of 3:26 2/5 was the fastest ever for the Fitness Cup and she earned a 114 speed.  Two runners came out of the Fitness Cup to win grade one events later in 2014, New Nure Nuest who finished third found success at a shorter distance to win the Kakarazuka Kinen Cup in June.  Reek, the fifth place finisher would earn his grade one far sooner.

A month after the Fitness Cup, the New Zealand track hosted the Grade One Ackland Cup.  Many of the same players from the Fitness Cup would return, including Contratiempo, Lemon Drop Mini Moo, New Nure Nuest, Gushing and Reek.  Gushing was sent off the favorite after her smashing victory in the Fitness Cup.  Gushing sat a bit closer to the early lead in the Ackland Cup.  She was third early on, only four and one half lengths behind frontrunner Jung.  She moved into second around the turn and took dead aim on Jung, putting him away down the stretch.  Unfortunately for our champ Reek was running strongly and as easily as she put away Jung, Reek put away Gushing to win by three lengths, with Jung holding for third over Contratiempo.

After two starts in New Zealand, Gushing moved her tack to the Victoria Racetrack for her next start, the Grade One South Australian Cup.  She took her revenge on Reek that day, winning by over four lengths with grade one winner I ben Scammed in second and Reek in third.  The favorite that day was Hall of Famer Dynamic Force, one of two champions in the field along with Outback Voyager.  That race was followed by an inexplicably poor one in the Grade One Spring Cup in Japan but Gushing bounced out of that May start to dominate the summer.

Shipping to England for the Grade One Gold Glass Gushing was again made the favorite.  She faced off against both Reek and Dark Mandu, the Cinderella horse who had stepped up to win the Spring Cup.  Dark Mandu burst onto the racing scene in the Equinics-Best Horse I Ever Owned.  Making only his third career start Dark Mandu was sent off at nearly 180/1 but finished second behind I Ben Scammed.  He was almost 50/1 when he upset the Spring Cup and still got no respect in the Gold Glass, going off at almost 25/1.  The field also included grade one winners I Ben Scammed, Outback Voyager and Nine Two Five as well as speedster Jung who again was the early pace setter.  Gushing was all the way back in seventh early but only about three lengths off the lead.  As the speed started to fade Gushing easily assumed command and rolled through the stretch, holding off a mild challenge by Cape Assassin late while still winning by three and three quarters lengths.  With Dark Mandu in third.

Gushing got two months off after that win and was given a freshener in the Grade Two Longdale Cup at the Surrey track in August.  The only other grade one winner in the field was Reek who at that point looked over the top.  Gushing’s presence scared the competition so much that only two other graded winners showed up in the field of eleven.  Gushing was second out of the gate but assumed command early in the race and just cruised.  She ended up winning by over four lengths with a 106 speed, the lowest winning number she ran in a graded race all year.  The Longdale was a solid prep for her final push for a championship.  Next up came in the prestigious Longchamp Marathon in Paris, another grade one.  But as in the Longdale, Gushing scared away much of the competition.  The only other grade one winner in the field was Outback Voyager, the previous year’s Female Turf Champion who had won the Longchamp Marathon in 2013 but whom Gushing had defeated several times already in 2014.  Outback Voyager did enter the race off her only 2014 victory, an allowance score but she still had much to prove against the mare who would take her mantle.  Indeed the Longchamp proved no contest at all as Gushing sat second early before coasting to a four and one quarter lengths victory over Run For Miles, a former claimer whose best win came in a listed stakes with Outback Voyager back in third.

A four million dollar purse and the prestige of the Grade One Millwood Cup lured Gushing back down under to New South Wales for her penultimate start.  It was also incentive enough to attract a deep field of contenders, many of whom had tried Gushing in the past.  Dark Mandu, New Nure Nuest, Outback Voyager were all there along with three year old Sydney Derby winner Rapala, a son of Hall of Fame mare Mama Forty.  Run For Miles was there to take another shot at Gushing, as was Jung.  Overall the fourteen horse field attracted ten graded winners and an additional three listed stakes winners.  Gushing was a heavy favorite and she would not disappoint.  Jung set the early pace with Gushing back in fifth with Knight Nutcase, Rapala and Dark Mandu between them.  Gushing was content to bide her time early before exploding around the final turn and coasting down the stretch winning by nearly four lengths.  Run For Miles made a bold run from twelfth to finish second and Outback Voyager was again third.

Now trainer Balata had a problem.  Gushing had sewn up her divisional award long before the Millwood Cup.  But with that win she was in contention for Horse of the Year.  I Won’t Look Back had won a smashing Breeders’ Bowl Classic a few days earlier, putting himself in contention for the award.  There were no more grade one races at two miles on the turf and Gushing not only needed a grade one but a grade one with a good purse.  The only possibility open to Gushing was the Grade One Winter Cup in Japan, an open race which carried a purse of $3,500,000.  The only catch was the distance, a mile and five furlongs.  That was shorter than any race Gushing had run all year.  But with the new point system determining championships the potential rewards outweighed the risks of entering.  Alas our great champion mare did not find the conditions to her liking.  Whether it was the distance that got her or a lack of affinity for the Japan track (he only other bad race had come in the Spring Cup over the same course) Gushing finished back in seventh without ever really lifting her feet.

The Winter Cup does not define her season, it barely registers among the pomp and pageantry Gushing gave Balata and her fans throughout the year.  With four grade one wins on the season Gushing has positioned herself to potentially enter the Hall of Fame in 2015.  She’s already made it there in the hearts of her fans.  Given a solid vacation after the Winter Cup, Gushing’s first expected start in 2015 is a chance to defend her title in the Ackland Cup and to try and lay the groundwork for a repeat championship season as well.