Champion Older Female Turf Long<\/p>\n
Gushing<\/p>\n
Monsun x Sadler\u2019s Wells x Roberto<\/p>\n
Owner\/Trainer \u2013 Balata<\/p>\n
Record 2014 \u2013 10-7-1-0<\/p>\n
Lifetime Earnings – $4,129,860<\/p>\n
2014 Stakes Wins \u2013 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<\/p>\n
Gushing Top Mare of 2014<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 Gushing was the highest rated mare in the game at any surface or distance in 2014.\u00a0 She was the second highest ranked turf horse behind only Montjeulry, winner of the Breeders\u2019 Bowl Turf and the third highest ranked horse in the game overall with Horse of the Year I Won\u2019t Look Back less than 400 points higher than her on the End of Year Ratings.\u00a0 The second highest rated mare at any age, distance or surface was the thirtieth best horse in the game.\u00a0 Gushing\u2019s year was really that good.<\/p>\n
Gushing was truly in a class by herself in 2014.\u00a0 With four grade one victories against males she easily outpaced the competition in her division.\u00a0 Runner up was Schauspielhaus, a dual grade one winner who took the Breeders\u2019 Bowl F and M Turf by open lengths.\u00a0 In third place was another dual grade one winner, My Role Model who was 2013\u2019s Champion 3yo Filly Turf.\u00a0 Her wins included an Equinics Victory.\u00a0 In any other year either mare would have been a worthy champion.\u00a0 But 2014 was different.\u00a0 It was Gushing\u2019s year.<\/p>\n
Gushing was a scratch breeding for Balata who has had some success with the now deceased stallion Monsun.\u00a0 Expecting a late developer, Balata did not debut his well bred filly until October of her two year old season.\u00a0 She started with an even, albeit off the board, effort in a sprint.\u00a0 She broke her maiden well in her second outing when going a mile in November.\u00a0 Balata knows the benefit of patience and rest, especially with a young horse and did not bring Gushing back for over three months.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 She missed the board in three grades in which the longest distance she ran was a mile and three eighths.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 She closed from over ten lengths back to lose by just one half-length in the shadow of the wire.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Gushing was showing an obvious affinity for distance \u2013 but how much did she want?\u00a0 Her championship season began with a win in a listed stakes at a mile and three quarters.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 But where would Balata go next?\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the Hall of Fame mare Magniforma, trained by Balata\u2019s 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.\u00a0 Even without experience under the conditions Gushing was sent off as the fourth choice in the fourteen horse field.\u00a0 The field included grade one winners Contratiempo, Lemon Drop Mini Moo and Delta Cause with Lemon Drop Mini Moo favored slightly over Contratiempo.\u00a0 Gushing did not find herself on the lead in this spot but she was second early, six lengths behind leader Mont Vegas.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Her time of 3:26 2\/5 was the fastest ever for the Fitness Cup and she earned a 114 speed.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Reek, the fifth place finisher would earn his grade one far sooner.<\/p>\n
A month after the Fitness Cup, the New Zealand track hosted the Grade One Ackland Cup.\u00a0 Many of the same players from the Fitness Cup would return, including Contratiempo, Lemon Drop Mini Moo, New Nure Nuest, Gushing and Reek.\u00a0 Gushing was sent off the favorite after her smashing victory in the Fitness Cup.\u00a0 Gushing sat a bit closer to the early lead in the Ackland Cup.\u00a0 She was third early on, only four and one half lengths behind frontrunner Jung.\u00a0 She moved into second around the turn and took dead aim on Jung, putting him away down the stretch.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
After two starts in New Zealand, Gushing moved her tack to the Victoria Racetrack for her next start, the Grade One South Australian Cup.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The favorite that day was Hall of Famer Dynamic Force, one of two champions in the field along with Outback Voyager.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Shipping to England for the Grade One Gold Glass Gushing was again made the favorite.\u00a0 She faced off against both Reek and Dark Mandu, the Cinderella horse who had stepped up to win the Spring Cup.\u00a0 Dark Mandu burst onto the racing scene in the Equinics-Best Horse I Ever Owned. \u00a0Making only his third career start Dark Mandu was sent off at nearly 180\/1 but finished second behind I Ben Scammed.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Gushing was all the way back in seventh early but only about three lengths off the lead.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 With Dark Mandu in third.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 The only other grade one winner in the field was Reek who at that point looked over the top.\u00a0 Gushing\u2019s presence scared the competition so much that only two other graded winners showed up in the field of eleven.\u00a0 Gushing was second out of the gate but assumed command early in the race and just cruised.\u00a0 She ended up winning by over four lengths with a 106 speed, the lowest winning number she ran in a graded race all year.\u00a0 The Longdale was a solid prep for her final push for a championship.\u00a0 Next up came in the prestigious Longchamp Marathon in Paris, another grade one.\u00a0 But as in the Longdale, Gushing scared away much of the competition.\u00a0 The only other grade one winner in the field was Outback Voyager, the previous year\u2019s Female Turf Champion who had won the Longchamp Marathon in 2013 but whom Gushing had defeated several times already in 2014.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 It was also incentive enough to attract a deep field of contenders, many of whom had tried Gushing in the past.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Run For Miles was there to take another shot at Gushing, as was Jung.\u00a0 Overall the fourteen horse field attracted ten graded winners and an additional three listed stakes winners.\u00a0 Gushing was a heavy favorite and she would not disappoint.\u00a0 Jung set the early pace with Gushing back in fifth with Knight Nutcase, Rapala and Dark Mandu between them.\u00a0 Gushing was content to bide her time early before exploding around the final turn and coasting down the stretch winning by nearly four lengths.\u00a0 Run For Miles made a bold run from twelfth to finish second and Outback Voyager was again third.<\/p>\n
Now trainer Balata had a problem.\u00a0 Gushing had sewn up her divisional award long before the Millwood Cup.\u00a0 But with that win she was in contention for Horse of the Year.\u00a0 I Won\u2019t Look Back had won a smashing Breeders\u2019 Bowl Classic a few days earlier, putting himself in contention for the award.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 The only catch was the distance, a mile and five furlongs.\u00a0 That was shorter than any race Gushing had run all year.\u00a0 But with the new point system determining championships the potential rewards outweighed the risks of entering.\u00a0 Alas our great champion mare did not find the conditions to her liking.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 With four grade one wins on the season Gushing has positioned herself to potentially enter the Hall of Fame in 2015.\u00a0 She\u2019s already made it there in the hearts of her fans.\u00a0 Given a solid vacation after the Winter Cup, Gushing\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Champion Older Female Turf Long Gushing Monsun x Sadler\u2019s Wells x Roberto Owner\/Trainer \u2013 Balata Record 2014 \u2013 10-7-1-0 Lifetime<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[91],"class_list":["post-28273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horses","tag-2014-eclipse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28273"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28280,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28273\/revisions\/28280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}