NZ Success Abounds in Singapore & Macau
29 May 2006
New Zealand bred horses again showed their dominance, winning five of the nine races on Friday night in Singapore, including two trifectas, and the feature event in Macau.
Singapore
The fourth race on the card saw the first of the two NZ bred trifectas with Katie's Dream (Senor Pete x Guinevere) winning the S$65,000 Initiation Plate over 1200 metres. Bred by Niki Wooff and John MacKenzie the win was the lightly raced mares' first from just five starts. New Zealand's leading jockey by prize-money, Leith Innes, rode Pura Vida (Green Perfume x It's My Party) to a close second while Lim's Esteem (Ebony Grosve x Fanny Black) came in third.
Fieldhouse Park purchased Pura Vida at the 2002 Karaka Festival Sale from Overdale Stud for NZ$2,750. Bred by Clyde Buckingham and Kit Davidson, Lim's Esteem was purchased by Mark Sweeny at the 2004 Karaka Select Sale for NZ$27,000 and was then sold again at the Ready to Run Sale for NZ$57,500 to Queensland-based, Mick Dittman.
In Race 6 the Stephen Gray trained Cool Judgement (Justice Prevails x Cool Swell) won the Class 5 event over 1600 metres, just ahead of fellow NZ bred, Lion City Emperor (Woodman x Lolette).
The feature Open Class 1400 metre race was taken out by former NZ galloper Tom Higgs (Al Akbar x Moon Voy). Bred and trained in New Zealand by David and Sarah Howarth and exported to Singapore in 2003, he has ten wins to his credit.
A second NZ-bred trifecta took out the last on the card, the Class 4 over 1600 metres, with exciting Singapore Derby prospect Our Frederik (Danske x Ramila) narrowly winning over Powerful Flyhorse (Volksraad x Never Bluffs). Double Happiness (Faltaat x Lady Centaine), bred by Steven Goh and Les and Janine Wallace, was third.
Karaka Select Sale graduate, Our Frederik, trained by Stephen Gray, was Gray's fourth success of the day, and gave jockey Leith Innes his first win since returning to Singapore. Powerful Flyhorse, bred by John Wood, was bought by Paul Moroney NZ$60,000 from the Karaka Premier Sale.
Earlier in the day, Diwan (Sandtrap x Our Good Win) produced his fourth career win in the Class 4 race over 1200 metres. He was bought by Westbury Stud from Peter Setchell's Millfield Stud at the 2001 National Weanling Sale for NZ$7,500.
Macau
In the feature event in Macau on Saturday, The Ashley Class 1 (1200m), New Zealand bred star in Macau, Warcat (Felix the Cat x Tara's Joy) once again trounced the competition to bring his tally of career wins to 11 from 20 starts. Kiwi-bred Wind Chill (Last Tycoon x Chillies) finished in third.