Premier Sale Grad Wins NZ Cup

It was a courageous run by Waltermitty (Grosvenor x Daria's Fun) that stole the Gr.2 New Zealand Cup from local hope, Normandy Boy, at Canterbury on Saturday.

Waltermitty was purchased by his trainer, John Wheeler, from the draft of Fayette Park at New Zealand Bloodstock's Premier Sale in 2000, for $80,000. The horse had a listed win two starts ago on a heavy track, and wasn't a certainty to perform on the firmer ground. But with Christchurch-born jockey Brian Hibberd aboard, he downed Normandy Boy by a short head, and in the process notched up Hibberd's fifth New Zealand Cup win.