Yarraman Park’s Hellbent had a red-letter day on Saturday, surging into the Top 10 on the Australian General Sires’ list by earnings with a flurry of stakes horses, including his super tough mare Vivy Air, who took out the $2 million ATC Five Diamonds (1800m) at Rosehill.

Earlier in the day, Hellbent sired exciting juvenile Revengeance to win the $1 million ATC Golden Gif,t and then he made it a winning double when the Ciaron Maher-trained Vivy Air backed up from her second placing in the $3 million ATC Big Dance (1600m) on Melbourne Cup Day.

Ridden by Reece Jones, the five-year-old mare unleashed a powerful run along the inside when she got clear running and prevailed to win by a neck over the G1 winners Transatlantic and Militarize.

 

 

“I think that win in the (Big Dance) Wild Card two starts back gave her a bit of confidence and the extra 200m of today’s race suited her, too,” said Maher’s stable representative, Johann Gerard-Dubord.

“The plan was to be a bit further forward, but she got a long way back. Reece stuck to the fence, which worked out perfectly well; it was the right move.

“There was a big gap up the inside, so it was a great ride. It’s a great result, a great prizemoney race and backing up from Tuesday into today, it’s not easy to do, but she is very tough.”

Bred by OTI Racing, Vivy Air had a change of ownership and trainer last year and has gone on to build the overall record of four wins and 12 placings from 27 starts with prizemoney topping $2.8 million.

Multiple Group-placed, she is not an official stakes-winner as the Five Diamonds lacks official recognition, but Vivy Air has the prizemoney and race record that paint the picture of a mare very much the quality of a stakes winner.

Vivy Air is a half-sister to South African G2 winner New Predator and is one of seven winners from seven to race from winning Fastnet Rock mare Head over Heels, a half-sister to stakes-winner Presently.

Hellbent was on fire on Saturday with feature wins for Vivy Air and Revengeance, plus his star mare Magic Time was a close second in the $3 million G1 VRC Champions Sprint at Flemington, while at Rosehill progressive mare Bauhinia flew home for second in the G2 ATC Hot Danish Stakes.

Hellbent stands at a fee of $38,500 including GST this spring with limited nominations available.