Wolfe's star filly ready for Big Dance

5 min read

Written by Bren O'Brien

As a one-time 'bush footy' player, Albany-based trainer Steve Wolfe never got to play in the big league, but having his star filly Watch Me Dance (I'm All The Talk) front up in his light blue and red colours in a Group 1 race like the Kingston Town S. is just as good.

The thrill of winning races has kept Wolfe going through a long career, regularly making the 400km trip between the stable's bases in Albany and Perth. A Group 1 victory is the one thing missing from his resume and Watch Me Dance looks as well-placed as any of his previous 11 runners at the elite level to get the job done.

"A horse winning in Albany or Kalgoorlie is like playing footy in the bush. You take them to Perth, and that's like playing in the city league, and then when you get to this level, you are playing AFL. It’s quite exciting to be able to do that," he told TDN AusNZ.

What is also exciting for Wolfe is the ride that he and Watch Me Dance have been able to give the group of 16 women involved in the ownership of the filly, who cost $34,000 at the 2019 Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale and who has now won close to $800,000 in an 11-start career.

Watch Me Dance as a yearling

"It’s been a great story, being an all-girls horse, which was an innovation Magic Millions started over east and brought it over here. I think the most important thing of a horse like her is that we have got those women involved and probably eight of them would have never been involved in a horse before," he said.

"I think the most important thing of a horse like her is that we have got those women involved and probably eight of them would have never been involved in a horse before." - Steve Wolfe

"It has brought so many people to the races. The entourage which follows her around, it’s amazing. You can't put a price on winning big races and it would be lovely to win one as I haven’t won a race like this, but the fact is, it’s just great to see the enjoyment the people get from winning a race.

"It's the value of the industry. I think there's too much emphasis, in my opinion, on people worrying about the punting dollar, rather than the animal and the enjoyment people get out of the sport."

A fillies' hat-trick?

Watch Me Dance will be shooting to become the third straight filly to win the weight-for-age race, following in the illustrious steps of Arcadia Queen (Pierro) and Kay Cee (Playing God).

She is also looking to emulate Arcadia Queen in winning the Kingston Town having already won the G3 Champion Fillies' and then the G2 WA Guineas. Unlike Bob Peters' filly, Watch Me Dance wasn't favourite in either of those previous wins, winning the first race at $21 and then the Guineas at $8.50.

"I thought she was a second-to-none chance in the Champion Fillies'. I felt she was almost a good thing. She was the best 2-year old in the state and showed by winning the Sires' how good she was. She has kept moving forward," Wolfe said.

"I put her on the scales yesterday morning and she weighs exactly the same as she did when she won the Champion Fillies'. She loses 6kg in her run, comes back to Albany, just goes in the paddock. She's in wonderful order, really. At the weights, she will be very hard to beat."

Shaun McGruddy has ridden Watch Me Dance at her past seven starts and while he has to get down substantially from his usual riding weight of 55kg to 50kg, Wolfe said there was no way he'd miss the ride.

"We aren’t particularly worried if he doesn't quite get there. He told me yesterday that he'd do it easily, but I said to him, if he's half a kilo over or a kilo over, it doesn't matter really. There’s not much weight attached to her," he said.

"I suppose if he gets to the weight, then some of those horses have to give us up to 9kgs, so it will be a hard job for them."

The cerise and white challenge

Chief among her rivals is the Grant and Alana Williams-trained Inspirational Girl (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}), who will be looking to give her owners, Bob and Sandra Peters, their sixth win in the race.

Wolfe sees the G1 Railway S. winner, who is the $2.20 bookies' elect for the race, as the main one to beat.

"You always have to respect the cerise and white. They are always pretty hard to toss, particularly in these big races. They haven’t had it all their own way in WA this year, probably because the best ones have gone to Melbourne," he said.

Out of the stakes-placed mare Coventry To Rio (Oratorio), Watch Me Dance is the first stakes winner for the now Darling View Thoroughbreds-based stallion I'm All the Talk.

Hear Me Sing as a yearling

Wolfe purchased Watch Me Dance's brother, now named Hear Me Sing, from the Mungrup Stud draft at this year's Magic Millions Perth Yearling Sale for $60,000 and he races in similar all-female ownership.

He had one start, for a second at Ascot last month, and will be set for races like the G2 Karrakatta Plate and G3 WA Sires' Produce, which his sister contested earlier this year, running second in the former and winning the latter.

"He had one start and got beaten in a photo in town. He went to the paddock after that," Wolfe said. "There was nothing wrong with him and we are looking forward to getting him back in."

SteveWolfe
WatchMeDance
KingstonTown
WA