ANOTHER OF BEL’S SAINTS

Great effort yesterday (8 February) by lightly raced Bel Esprit 4YO, Vain Saint, who won his maiden over 1100m at Scone.
Only starting twice as a 3YO, this was Vain Saint’s third outing since 22 January, running second at Muswellbrook, second at Tamworth and finally a break through victory at Scone.
He didn’t look too much of a hope turning for home, but Robert Thompson soon balanced his mount and – according to the commentator – “ate up the ground”.
Vain Saint is out of the Bletchingly mare Egrette, the dam of no less than nine winners including Caulfield Guineas winner Kenwood Melody, Sydney stakes winner Kalamarco and the Flemington stakes placed Princess Shorna (dam of black type pair Strong Choice and Hidden Wonder).
Great old family this with other members including Tobin Bronze, Persian Bronze, Flying Luskin and Umrum.
Interestingly, the part owners of Vain Saint include Phil and Leona Gunter who, as Brian Donohoe so correctly points out in his Bel Esprit blog, are the breeders of Bel Esprit and the very reasons for his website!

Constantly amazed at the Breednet website which offers up so many gems: both the obvious and hidden.
If you’re serious about the thoroughbred caper, you should definitely subscribe to its daily news service (not much escapes the attention of editor Tara Madgwick), but there’s also a ton of other snippets that are not quite as obvious.
For starters, Breednet’s sales coverage is right up to date and first class and, speaking of ‘front and centre’ we noticed that Vain Saint’s Scone win was listed under Bel Esprit’s winners for the past 30 days shortly after he crossed the line.
By comparison, some sites take a day – often days – to offer the same service.