PETER Nestor was the toast of the Castlereagh Hotel on Monday night after the mare he trains for a group of the pub's regulars broke her maiden at Narromine.
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Impeccably bred five-year-old Winter In Seattle, a half-sister to former top sprinter California Dane, broke through at her seventh start in a race after spending the early part of her career racing in Hong Kong.
When she didn't compete to the level expected by her Asian owner, he gave the mare to Denman-based breeder Brenda Holland, who in turn leased 50 per cent of the mare to Nestor and the syndicate from the Castlereagh.
Among the group of owners is Daily Liberal colleague Andrew Duffy, Group 11 president Ross McDermott and former top footballer Tom Burrows.
On Monday, Winter In Seattle was ridden by Kody Nestor and started a $3.20 favourite as she ran down early leader Icanacandy ($7.00, Winona Costin) in the N.M Owens Fuel Maiden Handicap (800m).
The Mark Jones-trained More By Chance ($3.60, Mathew Cahill) finished third in the race. Nestor doesn't have any grand plans for the sprinter but admitted he took great pleasure out of the win.
"There's a good bunch of people that have got into her, and they've got a win out of her at just her second run for them," Nestor said.
"It's about getting people into racing. It's hard to make money racing horses out here but if she can pay her way and they get a bit of fun out of racing her then they'll go to the races, have a bet and maybe they'll get into another one down the track.
"Some of the owners were there on Sunday and it gave me a big thrill actually to see the excitement they had, even though it was just a Narromine maiden they won."
Adding to the win was the fact Holland's husband Wayne passed away recently after a battle with illness.
"Brenda basically had this mare gifted to her when the previous owner sacked her from Hong Kong," Nestor said.
"Being a half to California Dane we knew if we could get a win out of her then she'd become worth a bit more money as a broodmare and we've achieved that.
"Brenda and her son Nick lost Wayne a couple of weeks ago, and she was pretty emotional there on Monday, so it really made my day to see the mare win, even though she only just got there."
Nestor indicated Winter In Seattle's next start would likely be in a Class 2 event over 1100m at Dubbo on August 26.
