Less than three weeks after her sprint victory at Newmarket, Eileen Alanna travelled down to Pietermaritzburg to take on the likes of Bimbina and Ecurie in the Natal Fillies' Guineas over a mile.
Stable companions Ecurie and Bimbina were in touch with the pace from the break, but once in line for home it was apparent that odds-on favourite Ecurie was not going to take the thick end of the purse. Her stable companion Bimbina was hailed the winner when Ricky Howard-Ginsberg's Boot Camp filly Eileen Alanna - so often beaten in important events - came through full of running to get up under Jeff Lloyd to score by a neck.
Rated by Howard-Ginsberg as the best filly he has trained, Eileen Alanna vindicated her trainer's opinion, scoring the most notable victory of her career.
EILEEN ALANNA (1982 f, Boot Camp - Alanya by Meadowville). Eileen Alanna was bred by Dudley Austen in the E-Cape. Her dam Alanya had been unimpressive filly on the track, failing to win. She produced 14 foals of which Eileen Alanna was the best. Trained by Ricky Howard-Ginsberg, she raced in the interests of Mr P Muller. In three seasons and 20 starts, she scored 6 wins, of which the highlight was the SA Fillies Guineas. She was four times Gr1 placed. Her subsequent stud career was a relative disappointment, with five winners from ten foals. Her 4-time winning daughter Bold Eileen is grandam of Garden Province Stakes winner Bold Ellinore, voted Champion Middle Distance Female in 2007.
Legacy: Gr1 SA Fillies Guineas
Bimbina
BIMBINA (ARG) (1982f - Francis U x Billie Dove by Victory Roll). Bred in Argentina at Haras America, Bimbina raced in the colours of Graham Beck and his wife Rhona, trained by Terence Millard. She won her maiden as a 3yo in October 1985, followed by 3 plate-race wins in quick succession. Regarded as her stable’s second string for the Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas (contested as the Highlands Stud Classic) in January 1986, Bimbina upset her heavily fancied stable companion Ecurie (who started odds-on at 1/3), winning by half a length. As a member of her trainer’s raiding party taken to the Highveld for the autumn feature season, Bimbina was successful in the Gr2 Lancome Fillies handicap and Gr3 Helios Fillies Stakes in March and April. During the following Natal feature season she ran a short head second to Eileen Alanna in the Gr1 SA Fillies Guineas (with odds-on Ecurie unplaced). After that her form tapered off somewhat, perhaps not surprisingly after such an intense campaign. She was retired to her owner’s Highlands Stud following her 3yo season. Bimbina’s second career was a disappointment. She had a dozen foals, of which six won, none of them stakes performers. She was sold, carrying a West Man colt, for R30k at the Cape Mare Sale in 2000, and re-sold 2 years later at a mixed sale for just R12k, barren. The non-winning West Man colt of 2000 had been her final foal.
Legacy: Gr1 Cape Fillies Guineas
Less than three weeks after her sprint victory at Newmarket, Eileen Alanna travelled down to Pietermaritzburg to take on the likes of Bimbina and Ecurie in the Natal Fillies' Guineas over a mile.
Boot Camp filly Eileen Alanna - so often beaten in important events - came through full of running to get up under Jeff Lloyd to score by a neck.
