A stirring victory by Juan Diva in the Group 3 WJ Healy Stakes (1200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday provided Trelawney Stud's Taylor family with a remarkable 10th stakes win as owners for the season.
Three of those wins have come in Australia with royally-bred mare Zayydani contributing twice with her wins in the Group 2 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) and Listed Ballarat Cup (2000m) while their seven New Zealand black-type victories were shared between Pareanui Bay (two), Cheaperthandivorce (two) and the recently retired Two Illicit, who bagged three including the Group 1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) and the Group 2 Travis Stakes to round out an illustrious career.
Trelawney Stud managing director Brent Taylor was thrilled by the performance of Juan Diva, who overcame a wide barrier (12) in the hands of expat Kiwi rider Jason Collett to dash home late for victory, just a week after they had taken the calculated gamble to scratch the Richard and Will Freedman-trained Snitzel mare just an hour before a similar race at Ipswich.
"That was a wonderful performance and thankfully it vindicated the decision we made the week before at Ipswich," Taylor said.
"She was all set to run there but during the meeting they got a heap of rain and the track began to really deteriorate.