Group 2 Glory For Ocean Emperor (NZ)

Well-bred entire Ocean Emperor (NZ) (Zabeel) stepped up to black-type level and greatly enhanced his value with victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Group 2 Gartshore Tauranga Stakes (1600m).

Ridden by Mark Hills for Matamata trainer Gary Hennessy, the six-year-old finished over the top of well-performed rivals Miss Wilson (Stratum) and Kawi (NZ) (Savabeel) to win the weight-for-age feature by a length and a quarter.

It was the sixth win of an injury-interrupted 16-start career for Ocean Emperor, who has now won $119,625 in prize-money for his owners Gary Hennessy, Andrew Wong and Steve Yan.

A son of the Pins mare Tootsie (NZ), who was a Group 3 winner and placed at Group 1 level, Ocean Emperor was bred by Waikato Stud’s Garry Chittick and cost $450,000 as a yearling.

“Gary Hennessy has done an unbelievable job with this horse,” Waikato Stud principal Mark Chittick told NZ Racing Desk. “He’s been so patient and he’s always rated him so highly.

“Good on him, off the back of Ocean Park (NZ) (Thorn Park) they bought this horse for $450,000 from us. They deserve it, he’s won a really nice race and it’s still early days, the horse hasn’t had much racing.”