AFTER more than three decades of sitting behind the gig as a trainer-driver, Bernie Hewitt tasted Group 1 glory for the first time in his career on Sunday.
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Though the reinsman is no stranger to feature races, it took an Always A Virgin x Leagueoferown filly called Royal Story to land him a Group 1 success.
It came in the $153,000 three-year-old fillies final of the NSW Breeders Challenge series.
A previous NSW Oaks and Bathurst Gold Bracelet finalist, Royal Story was the $5 second elect for Sunday’s feature, $1.50 favouritism belonging to the Jason Grimson trained and driven Dont Think Twice.
It the end it came down to a battle between that pair, Royal Story taking the lead from barrier four while Dont Think Twice worked three wide in the middle stages to draw in striking distance of Hewitt’s filly.
The battle down the home straight was intense, but Royal Story showed her strength as she won by a half-head in a career best 1:53.0 mile rate.
She clocked splits of 26.6, 31.0, 27.6 and 27.8 seconds for the quarters of the mile.
Third place went to Shezallapples ($12.80), who flew home from the rear of the field.
“Royal Story, she had to work a bit early on to get that front position, it was a fairly quick lead time. I was then fortunate enough to be able to back things off,” Hewitt said.
“It was a real duel at the top of the straight with the favourite all the way up, I think the other one stuck her nose in front.
“She had to fight tooth and nail all the way. It was a great effort to hold them off, especially after she did a lot of work out of the gate.
“She really stood up and got the job done.
She will now head back to the spelling paddock of Gulgong owners Gary and Margaret Meredith.
