Princess Amelie gets off the canvas to score brave win at Trentham - now for the Stewards

Princess Amelie showed so much courage to win in footing she didn’t like at Trentham today, trainer Lisa Latta is excited about what she might achieve this season.

Rider Robbie Hannam reported the four-year-old was never comfortable in the heavy 11 going but that didn’t stop her from disputing the pace and coming off the canvas early in the run home to outfinish Mars Bars by a long head.

“It was a really weird track today,” Latta said. “There was a lot of grass and it was very puggy - a lot of the wet trackers weren’t handling it. It wasn’t deep but it was very testing.”

Princess Amelie’s preferred track range is dead to slow, the exact same conditions today at Riccarton where she will have her next start.

Latta has set the mare for the Group III $100,000 Stewards (1200m) on the middle day of the cup carnival, November 13.

“I really want her to get black type so then I know John can get his money back when he sells her.”

John Street … “You can’t buy a Snitzel now.”Lincoln farms’ boss John Street shelled out $300,000 to buy the Little Avondale Stud bred yearling at Karaka, one of the most expensive horses he’s ever bought.

“I really wanted a Snitzel and Lisa loved her,” Street said. “She was so big and strong.

“You can’t buy a Snitzel now and if she can win a Group race she could be worth a lot of money.”

Princess Amelie not only had Snitzel and a great body on her side at the sales, her damside breeding is impressive too.

Her dam Just Dancing won only once in a short 11-start career in Australia but racked up multiple Group placings and her grand dam Ballroom Babe was a household name in New Zealand in 1994-95, claiming both Group I Sires’ Produce Stakes at Ellerslie and Awapuni as a two-year-old. As an older horse she claimed a Group I Captain Cook Stakes among her eight wins and $321,000 bankroll.

Princess Amelie, rails, finds another kick as Mars Bars ranges alongside. PHOTO: Peter Rubery/Race Images.Ballroom Babe would have been proud of the fight Princess Amelie showed today, after seemingly being all done just after the crossing.

“Robbie said she was hating the ground but when that other horse headed her, she dug in again,” Street said.

“It was just her class that got her home. Robbie said she’s also very lazy and needs a strong rider. If you don’t keep pushing her, she knocks off.”

Latta will now freshen the mare before shipping her south the weekend before the Stewards, confident she now has the strength she lacked last season to compete at the top level.

Princess Amelie is starting to build the record of a good horse, her 12 starts reaping five wins and $77,075 in stakes.