When Emilio and Mary Rosati bought trotting mare Real Babe at the 2012 Harrisburg Harness Racing Mixed Sale, the plan was for the daughter of Donato Hanover to continue racing in the USA before heading to Australia to become a mother. As a two and three year old she won $223,478 for trainer Ray Schnittker before she was bought by Emilio and Mary and transferred to trainer Mark Harder.
The mare has won eleven races since the purchase and thirteen in total with a career best mile of 1:52.2. After starting her Australian career with Jayne Davies in Victoria, the mare hasn’t raced for more than a year and is now under the care of .Belinda McCarthy Real Babe will make her Sydney debut on Saturday night at Tabcorp Park Menangle and Emilio Rosati is looking forward to seeing her race again.
“My wife Mary loves trotters and in 2012 when we were at Harrisburg, I said to her you won’t find a better bred trotter so we bought her to race and then breed with,” Rosati said.
“She had three starts in Victoria but she wasn’t right so we had her looked at by the vets and she was diagnosed with a soft palate. She has had an operation to try and help with the problem and we also had an embryo taken from her and put into a surrogate mare last year as well.”
Real Babe trialled on Monday at Menangle finishing second and ran a personal time of 1:56.4.
“I think she is going to improve off the run on Saturday night but in saying that she will be competitive, Belinda and Luke are very happy with her and I’m looking forward to seeing her race again.
“I’m not sure how long Mary and I will keep her racing for, I wait for my horses to tell me when they’ve had enough and then I retire them. If she is still racing well then she will continue on past the next breeding season and we would look at taking another embryo from her.”
Rosati is still enjoying the thrill of breeding and owning this year’s Alabar Bathurst Gold Crown winner Astride. The colt by Somebeachsomewhere will be set for the Breeders Challenge later in the season and is enjoying a quiet break.
“I’ve won some good races as an owner but to win the Gold Crown with a horse that we’ve bred is very exciting for us and is something that we will hope to do into the future.
“My broodmares and the foals get everything they need and get looked after really well, I’m expecting to breed some nice horses going forward because I have some of the best broodmares in the country.”
Rosati confirmed Real Babe will join his band of broodmares when her racing days are over.
“That’s where she will end up but hopefully she wins a few more races on the track first!”
Greg Hayes