Grant and Alana Williams unearthed a 3yo with staying potential when Sentimental Legend won a Bunbury maiden on debut in November and he turned a Class 1 into a procession at Belmont on Wednesday.
Sentimental Legend (Brutal) was giving the leaders a big start at the half-mile before circling the field into the straight for Willie Pike. He waltzed past front-runner My Zoom (Russian Revolution) and widened the margin stride-by-stride to eventually score by the best part of three lengths in the Unite Resourcing Hcp (1650m).
“He’s a big horse and felt a lot sharper today,” Pike reported at the midweek meeting. “He probably didn’t beat a lot here but did it very well stretching out over more ground. He pricked his ears and won pulling up which I like because it proves he was doing it easily.”
Sentimental Legend is from the second crop of Newgate Farm’s G1 Doncaster Mile winner Brutal (O’Reilly) and he’s the final of seven individual winners from the Peters Investments-bred mare Sentimental Star (More Than Ready). Her best to date is last year’s dual LR Boulder Cup – LR Kalgoorlie Cup winner Sentimental Hero (Al Maher).
Sentimental Star is a half-sister to LR Pinjarra Cup (2400m) winner Star Encounter (Jeune). The latter foaled the Bob and Sandra Peters homebreds Star Exhibit (G2 Perth Cup), Perfect Jewel (G2 WA Guineas) and Royal Star (LR Natasha Stakes).
Peters Investments sold Sentimental Star for $40,000 at the 2018 Magic Millions National Sale on the Gold Coast and she subsequently foaled the Grant and Alana Williams-bred winners Sentimental Belle (Nicconi) and Sentimental Flame (Kermadec) prior to Sentimental Legend who is raced by Grant’s sister Jodi Howkins.
“We’re not kidding when we say Alana can breed a goodie and patience has proven key for Sentimental Legend,” Williams Racing posted on Facebook in November. “He debuted in phenomenal fashion, sitting wide the trip and still doing his best work late! We’ve always had high hopes for the 3yo and our expectations are being matched.”
