Tuesday, 7 August 2012: The broodmare value of Captain Rio mare Art Beat went to another level at Riccarton on Saturday when she won the G3 Winter Cup.
The six-year-old had previously won twice at Listed level in the Tauranga Classic and the Lion Red Plate.
Saturday's success was the ninth of her career for Matamata husband and wife training team Wayne and Vanessa Hillis.
Art Beat had finished in the money in three of her previous appearances and will stay on with her stablemate and half-sister Smartly (Fast 'N' Famous), who finished runner-up at Riccarton in a Rating 75 metric mile, for the Winter Classic Handicap on the final day of the Riccarton winter meeting.
Hillis rode the 1993 Grand National Steeplechase winner Fox Hunt and also prepared Final Destination to win the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas in 2001.
Art Beat is a daughter of Artemesia (Peintre Celebre) and boasts an international pedigree as she is grand-daughter of the unraced Incommunicado (Sadler's Wells) whose dam Aptostar (Fappiano) was a G1 winner in the US.
The family also boasts European stakes winners including the well-performed Irish stayer Profound Beauty (Danehill), who finished fifth in the Melbourne Cup in 2008.
