BEL QUINELLA IN DING DONG BATTLE

It was the classic one-two at Devonport on 12 November with Ding Dong Denita staging a full on battle with Taiyin over the concluding stages of their 1000m contest.
Both combatants are by Bel Esprit and while the winner’s name, one assumes, pays homage to Denise ‘Ding Dong’ Drysdale of Hey Hey It’s Saturday fame, the runner up is so called after an acupuncture term.
Bred by Stephen Standen and Leann Lupson (who also race the mare), Ding Dong Denita campaigned on the mainland, racing on seven occasions without success, while Taiyin was having only her fourth start, having run second on debut as a juvenile at Hobart.
Trained originally by Rebecca Standen, Ding Dong Denita is out of the 3-time winner Miss Congenial (by Snippets) who is also the dam of dual Melbourne winner Brava Brava.

Deciding to send the mare south after a run at Swan Hill in August, Ding Dong Denita is now with Glenn Stevenson.
Taiyin, on the other hand, was bred in Tassie by long term Eliza Park clients Dr Vu Van Tu and Amanda Lockett who retained the filly and placed her originally with Adrian McGregor and Vicki Rhind before sending her to Leon Corstens’ Melbourne stables for a solo performance at Ballarat.
She is now with Michael Trinder and, if you’ll excuse the pun, the connections must have been on pins and needles as she fought out the finish with Ding Dong Denita.
Taiyin is out of the Fraar mare Tonification, in turn a daughter Kiwi matron, Untapped.
Dr Vu and Amanda certainly had quite a bit of fun with Untapped, breeding six winners (from six to race) out of the Straight Strike mare, including Sandown Guineas-G2 winner Sedation and the stakes placed Tonification.
Indeed, the first three foals from the mare were all black typers.
However, back to the name …
According to our scant research on acupuncture (and please don’t try this at home children!), the body is divided into ‘meridians’ and each meridian has test points: a tonification point and a sedation point!
Don’t know if it makes your horse run any faster, but it certainly worked for Sedation and Tonification and, hopefully, in the weeks to come, Taiyin.

Ding Dong Denita edges out Taiyin in thrilling finish. Photo courtesy of Hayes Racing