First Leg of NZB’s Spring WFA Championship Won by Rising Star

New Zealand Bloodstock’s Caulfield Spring Weight-For-Age Championship kicked off with a bang as early Melbourne Cup favourite Puissance de Lune (Shamardal) exploded to an effortless win in the A$220,000 P.B. Lawrence Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield.

Puissance de Lune wins the first leg of NZB's Spring WFA Championship at Caulfield.

Excitement dawned upon racing fans as the son of Shamardal’s impressive win in the Group 2 feature announced the arrival of spring racing and set a lofty standard for the rest of the carnival.

The Darren Weir trained entire settled in the back half of the field and jockey Glen Boss picked a path between runners in the straight with Puissance de Lune bursting past pacemaker Ajeeb (NZ) to a seemingly easy win.

One of Australia’s leading jockeys, Boss has not hidden his thoughts of the Irish-bred horse, claiming he is one of the best horses he has ridden comparing him to the likes of Makybe Diva and So You Think (NZ), and the weekend’s performance reinforced his opinion.

Attention now turns to the second leg of the New Zealand Bloodstock Spring WFA Championship at Caulfield with the running of the A$350,000 New Zealand Bloodstock Memsie Stakes (1400m) ranked at Group 1 level for the first time this year.

The elevation to Group 1 status is sure to attract a high quality field with headline gallopers such as Atlantic Jewel, Ferlax (NZ), Silent Achiever (NZ) and, Her Majesty the Queen’s only Australian trained horse, Carlton House indicated as potential runners by their respective trainers for the feature race run on 31 August.

To view the current leader board for New Zealand Bloodstock’s Spring WFA Championship at Caulfield, click here.