Bella's shot at the big dance

By Jordan Gerrans

Queensland apprentice Bella Youngberry’s riding progression has been given a large tick of approval after she was booked for the biggest race of her young career at Grafton next week.

The Gold Coast hoop claimed Sunday’s Grafton Cup Prelude aboard former jumps horse Pure Deal which booked the gelding’s position in the Listed Cup, which is worth $200,000, and will be run next Thursday. 

With the annual Grafton carnival usually flooded with city riders for the week, connections had the option to book a metropolitan hoop for the feature event. 

Trainer Brett Bellamy and owner Peter Wood have shown the ultimate faith and stuck with the jockey who put them into the big Cup with Youngberry to retain the ride.

To put the booking into context, the last five Grafton Cups have been won by Group 1-winning jockeys.

Youngberry is only in her second season of riding. 

After initially being indentured to Allan Chau at the Gold Coast, the 19-year-old Queenslander has been on loan to Bellamy at Coffs Harbour in recent weeks.

“The owner was very happy with the ride and she has done all the work with the horse since he came up from Melbourne,” the trainer said.

“She gets on well with the horse. It will give her a good buzz to get around on him in the Cup.

“I have aimed to give her confidence as a rider, which should only help her.

“She is riding better now and is more confident in herself, which is a positive.”

Pure Deal claimed last Sunday’s Cup Prelude as an $61 outsider which gifted the winner a golden ticket into the Cup itself.

Youngberry dropped Pure Deal back to last in the small field early in the event. 

The emerging hoop eventually found a gap to go through in the home straight as the gelding scored in a diving finish. 

Youngberry will need to get her weight down to 54kg to ride the son of Dundeel in the Cup, which is a race that apprentices cannot claim in.

The effort on Sunday was the stayers first for the Bellamy barn after Wood purchased the seven-year-old online not long ago. 

Veteran trainer Bellamy was not thinking pre-race that his recent stable acquisition would be exempt from the ballot of the rich Grafton Cup a week later, but it all worked out perfectly.

“Leading in, I didn’t see him winning that race, but it was not a super strong Grafton Cup Prelude,” he said.

“I thought he would be solid enough for the run and be close enough to them from the 600 metre mark, he would be strong to the line and that was exactly what he was.”

The victory was Youngberry’s first for Bellamy since she started her loan stint with the conditioner. 

Pure Deal has lived an interesting life in his racing career.

He competed across South East Queensland between 2020 and 2022 for the Laming team before he was eventually sent to Victoria to compete in jumps and hurdles races in more recent times. 

Pure Deal ran in a 3400 metre hurdle race at Sandown at his most recent outing before the Grafton Cup Prelude romp.

Former champion hoop Michael Cahill rode the gelding plenty in his early days for the Laming stable and gave his old mate Bellamy a positive assessment when he was asked if the Coffs Harbour team should purchase him.

“If you take out the hurdle runs, his form is not that bad,” Bellamy said.

“That race the other day, that was probably the weakest race he has ever run in.

“He is only going to improve. The 2230 metres was no troubles the other day and stepping up another furlong will be no issue for him.

“The company will be a lot stronger in the Cup but he will carry four kilograms less, which will be a big help. The run under the belt will only help.”

Youngberry has settled into life well on the Northern Rivers of NSW, recently riding winners at Ballina, Murwillumbah, Mungindi and Grafton.

The Queensland youngster is enjoying a strong season, piloting 29 winners so far, with many of those collected in the Central and North West of the Sunshine State before she headed for the loan spell in NSW.