Double strike for pins

4 July 2016

WS stalwart Pins produced a winning double in Melbourne yesterday with Pin Your Hopes and Makatiti successful at Caulfield. The former is in career best form for trainers Matthew Ellerton and Simon Zahra with three wins and a second from his last four starts.

Pin Your Hopes ended a two year drought when he won at Cranbourne in May and then scored at Flemington after finishing runner-up at Sandown. “I think the soft tracks have really helped him,” Zahra said. “I think the firmer tracks stopped him and he lost his confidence, but now he’s letting go.”

The John Sadler-trained Makatiti has also been in great touch this preparation with two wins and three placings from five appearances. The three-year-old was purchased out of WS’s 2014 Premier Sale line-up at Karaka for $80,000.

He is a son of the unraced O’Reilly mare Enjoy who is a daughter of the dual stakes winner Playful Fingers. She is a half-sister to the Group One performers Hancock Park ad Clever Zoe.

The Corner with Garry Chittick

I don’t know if the two of you have ever had the thrill of travelling at high speed across the water on a single ski, totally dependent on the driver of the boat. Fall off and you are left treading water, reminds you of racing. Here we are, with multiple hints of navigation hanging on to the rope hoping for salvation.

20 May 2026

Icebath’s half-sister goes back-to-back

Well-bred mare Superfabulistic (Super Seth ex Fabulist) continued her rise through the grades at Warwick Farm on Wednesday, making it back-to-back victories with a strong performance in the Precise Air Handicap (1600m).