From tragedy may come triumph for Caroline Springs engineer Joe Vassallo, having after three decades bred his horse of a lifetime.
I Am Pegasus was an impressive all-the-way winner of her Aldebaran Park Vicbred Super Series heat for trainer Vassallo, who with brother Sam bred and owns the filly that is favourite for tonight’s three-year-old trotting final.
The self-proclaimed hobbyist trainer has reveled in I Am Pegasus’s break-out season, with tonight’s six-figure stakes almost seven times greater than the richest win of Vassallo’s 30 years in the sport.
“She’s the best one I’ve had,” Vassallo said. “You dream about getting a horse good enough to go around in Group 1s. We don’t train a lot of horses, only the ones we breed ourselves, if we can get them to win any race we are pleased with that.”
He said it was “pretty special” to share the breeding and owning with brother Sam, with whom he purchased a service to Pegasus Spur only to lose their mare when she was in foal, and then leased Ginger Gem to make use of the resultant free service.
The Shepparton mare had produced only one winner in her previous five foals, and early signs weren’t always great that number six – I Am Pegasus – would reverse that trend.
“As a two-year-old she was doing quite a few things wrong,” Vassallo said. “She just wasn’t ready to race.”
She debuted in February as a three-year-old, having “shown a bit in a couple of trials, then in her first race she galloped three times”. Despite that, Vassallo said, reinsman “Chris Alford got off and said you’ve got a nice one”.
“Next start she galloped twice and was a long way back before running second,” he said. “That put the writing on the wall that she was above average. That was the day we thought we might have a good one to go in the bigger races. Then she won five in a row.”
It’s all been too good to be true with the exception of “a bit of a disaster in the Oaks”, when she pulled hard, broke and finished eighth. Connections will be hopeful I Am Pegasus puts her best foot forward in her second Group 1, when she is among several small stables chasing the win of a lifetime.
“Our girl runs along, Georgias Pride will be challenging, Royal Charlotte is going nicely, the one horse (Peregrine Phoenix) has shown ability and Imsettogo had a big run in her heat as well,” Vassallo said. “It’s just great to be a part of it.”
