Wallace and Cooksley Strike Again in Queen Elizabeth II Cup

For the second year in a row, Byerley Park trainers Bruce Wallace and Grant Cooksley have taken out the $250,000 Group Three Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2400m) with a quality stayer sourced from Karaka.

The pair won the New Year’s Day feature 12 months ago with Trust In You (NZ) (Sweynesse), who they bought for just $26,000 from Book 2 of Karaka 2020. They defended that title at Ellerslie on Wednesday with Son Of Sun (NZ) (Tavistock), a $65,000 purchase from Karaka 2021.

Still lightly raced and with scope for further improvement, Son Of Sun has now had 18 starts for six wins, three placings and $336,995 in stakes – more than five times what Baiquing Sun paid to buy him from Cambridge Stud’s Book 1 draft at Karaka 2021.

Son Of Sun began the current season with two wins to his name in an 11-start career. He had earned just over $70,000 in stakes, and his rating was only 67. He has added another four wins and $264,600 to that record from seven appearances as a five-year-old, culminating in an outstanding Cup win on New Year’s Day.

After settling in midfield for most of the 2400-metre journey, Son Of Sun was angled into clear air at the top of the straight by jockey Matt Cartwright and set out after the front-running Arby (NZ) (Tavistock).

He had a five-length deficit to make up but did so within the space of a few powerful strides, ranging up alongside Arby and getting the better of that gallant rival in the last 50 metres to win by a neck.

Despite his rapid rise into the top echelon of New Zealand’s staying ranks, Cooksley believes Son Of Sun is still some way short of his peak.

“He won well,” the well-travelled former jockey said. “He is a good stayer and hopefully he carries on with it. I think he is going to be a little bit better in another six months. I know he is a five-year-old, but he is a slow-maturing horse. He’s coming along very well.

“He’s nominated for the Auckland Cup (Group Two, 3200m) in March, but we’ll see what happens.”