When Glenis Trevaskis saw Mixed Blossom running around in the same paddocks where her Black Opal winner You're Canny still lives, the Canberra owner and breeder knew she had a special horse.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Now there's a chance for lightning to strike twice as she gets the band back together for a shot at winning a second Black Opal.
In 2011, You're Canny caused a massive upset, beating $1.20 favourite Karuta Queen.
Part-owned by Trevaskis, the Canny Lad gelding gave Gratz Vella his first Black Opal as a trainer and Richard Bensley's first as a jockey.
All three are back together for another crack, with Trevaskis sole owner of Mixed Blossom - from mother Mixed Up Miss, who she also owned.
Trevaskis gave You're Canny no chance before the 2011 Black Opal, expecting Karuta Queen to romp in. This time she's hoping for a top-five finish with Mixed Blossom.
You're Canny shattered his sesamoid, in his fetlock, and was almost put down, but the vet saved him and he's still running around in Trevaskis' paddock.
It's the same paddocks where Mixed Blossom grew up and where she first felt the two-year-old filly might be a special racehorse.
"She's going to blossom on Sunday ... when she came home she was the tiniest little thing and when I saw her in the paddock I said to Gratz, 'This horse has got something special, I'm going to keep her'," Trevaskis said.
"As she got bigger and she was 12 months old I said to Gratz, 'I'm going to keep her on my own, she has got something, I've seen her run down the fence line'.
"Even if she doesn't do well on Sunday, she will win races."
While most of the talk about this year's Black Opal Stakes (1200 metres) has been around another Canberra hope, Nick Olive's Single Gaze, Vella is confident Mixed Blossom is also in the mix.
Mixed Blossom has had just the one run so far, winning the Lightning Ridge - the Opal's lead-up race - at Thoroughbred Park two weeks ago.
If she had another one, Vella thinks she'd be close to unbeatable - even against the might of John O'Shea's Godolphin stable, with Antelucan.
"If I had one more [run] underneath my belt, I could nearly declare it because she has just improved lengths," Vella said.
"On Wednesday morning she worked on the course proper ... and she was just cruising.
"Richard came back and said, 'Gratz, bring it on', and that's what I reckon, bring it on.
"[There's a] big chance she'll go [for a spell after the Opal] unless she wins by five or six lengths and then we might put the prizemoney in the Golden Slipper."
If she does win, Bensley knows he'll have a party on his hands after winning four years ago.
The Goulburn lad said he "might be a bit second-hand" at the Queanbeyan races on Monday if that's the case.
"It was a tremendous thrill, probably a career highlight for me at the time," Bensley said of the 2011 win.
"Just to get a ride in the race is special, to be riding for Gratz and Glenis again in the Black Opal is a pretty special effort."
BLACK OPAL STAKES DAY
Sunday: Black Opal Stakes and Canberra Cup at Thoroughbred Park, gates open 11.30am.
Tickets available from Ticketek and at the gate.
