Double Awapuni Success for Karaka
31 March 2014
Karaka Premier Sale graduates Lady Cumquat (Duke of Marmalade) and Soriano (NZ) (Savabeel) both captured Group race successes on the weekend at Awapuni on a Premier Day of racing.
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Lady Cumquat wins the Group 3 Higgins Manawatu Classic at Awapuni. |
Three-year-old filly Lady Cumquat was an impressive winner of the Group 3 $70,000 Higgins Manawatu Classic (2000m) by two lengths for trainer Roger James.
The daughter of Duke of Marmalade settled mid-field in a strongly run race over 2000m and rider Rory Hutchings masterfully picked a passage through the inside of the track to defeat Mountain Jack (NZ) (Postponed) and Iffwedance (NZ) (Iffraaj).
“I expected her to be very hard to beat,” commented James. “It is fair to say that she has been unlucky and subject to one or two not so good rides.
“Going a trip was going to be helpful, which she was doing for the first time. Her work on Tuesday morning was absolutely top-class, the best of her life, and I expected a big showing from her.
“Australia is a possibility at some stage, whether it is the Adrian Knox Stakes in two weeks’ time or whether it is Brisbane, we are yet to sort that out.”
Saturday’s win was Lady Cumquat’s second from seven starts. She has earned $59,900 for her owners P B Newsom, A Wales & A M Whitehouse. Bred by P B Newsom, Westbury Stud offered the filly at the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale.
Lady Cumquat is a half-sister to another very good filly that Roger James trained in Full of Spirit (Flying Spur), the winner of the Group 3 Adrian Knox Stakes in Sydney. She is from the family of Group 1 winners Champagne (Zabeel) and St Reims (Zabeel).
Later in the day Soriano captured her second stakes success when winning the Group 2 $100,000 Ezibuy Awapuni Gold Cup (2000m) for Graeme & Debbie Rogerson.
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Soriano (NZ) successful in the Group 2 Ezibuy Awapuni Gold Cup. |
The four-year-old mare was a winner of the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes as a three-year-old on the same track and has accumulated a number of stakes placings since that victory, including in the Group 1 Zabeel Classic.
Ridden by Noel Harris, Soriano was forced to race three-wide throughout the race without cover. Patiently handled by Harris, the daughter of Savabeel came with a perfectly timed run to claim victory by a long neck over Karaka graduates Military Move (NZ) (Volksraad) and Nashville (NZ) (Darci Brahma).
“It was a good win,” commented Debbie Rogerson. “She deserved to win one of the big ones, she has been so unlucky in the good races she has been racing in.
“She didn’t have an easy run in the race, she was three-deep the whole way which we didn’t really want to happen but circumstances prevailed and it was a really good, tough win. She had no weight on her back which helped with the tough trip she had in transit.
“She goes now to the weight-for-age fillies and mares Group 3 race on 11 April at Manawatu and then into the Travis Stakes.”
Soriano has won four races from 28 starts with ten minor placings to her credit. She has earned $290,037 in prizemoney for her owner Denise Howell.
The Karaka Premier Sale graduate is out of the Listed Wagga Gold Cup winner Call Me Lily (Just a Dancer) and is a half-sister to the stakes placegetter Affairoftheheart (Fusaichi Pegasus). She is one of 31 stakes winners for her sire Savabeel.