The well-known Maroon and White crossed sashes of Francis and Christine Cook combined with the Proven Thoroughbreds cap, are only officially carried by two horses. Prior to Wednesday neither had won.
Then, in the space of 48 hours both three year old fillies secured their inaugural victories. LOVE REBEL dominated her rivals in a 1400m contest at Eagle Farm before PROXIMA CENTAURI journeyed to Goulburn to break her maiden over 1500m.
The latter had revealed little to be excited about in her three run opening campaign last summer. However, an encouraging fifth at Hawkesbury first-up paved the way for Friday’s narrow, though game win.
“She was very determined,” proclaimed rider Andrew Adkins on returning to scale.
“And she’s got so much to learn. It took the first few hundred metres to get her action together but she then travelled well and showed a lot of fight.
“The second horse did come out and interfere slightly with us in the closing stages so we would’ve had grounds to protest had we lost.”
Adkins also suggested the PROISIR rising 4yo had abundant stamina given how long it took to pull her up.
With the benefit of that assessment and her Kiwi background, trainer Joe Pride, who has had a long and successful association with the Cooks, will plan to extend the distances of this girl as her preparation unfolds.
The Cook/Proven involvement also goes back many years but the combined colours is only a recent initiative.
The two wins raised the seasonal tally for Proven to 45 and prizemoney to $3.5m in a remarkable 9 days that has yielded 7 winners.
