Colt Crowns Record With Guineas Victory

Dato Yap Kim San’s star colt Sacred Falls credited WS and their champion stallion O’Reilly with yet another top-flight victory when he triumphed in the Gr 1 NZ 2000 Guineas.

The three-year-old stretched his unbeaten run to six with a determined display to see off the filly Oasis Rose.

“He’s always had the temperament and ability to be a top liner,” Cambridge co-trainer Tony Pike said. “He just finds a way to win races.” The handsome entire is a son of Iguazu’s Girl and was sold by WS to Guy Mulcaster, acting on behalf of Raffles Dancers, for $160,000 at Karaka last year.

His dam, a daughter of Redoute’s Choice, is a half-sister to WS’s Gr 3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes and Gr.1 Ascot Vale Stakes runner-up Splashing Out.

“There’s a huge amount of relief for us and the filly ran enormously well,” Pike said. “Leith (Innes) rode him like he was the best horse and got him out and going early. He had a real fight on his hands but he’s a very good horse. He’ll go for a good break for probably six weeks and then we’ll sit down with the owners and maybe look at Sydney over Easter.”

Sacred Falls settled in the last trio early before Innes improved wide to have the leaders within his sights on straightening. The colt fought determinedly to account for Oasis Rose with last season’s champion juvenile Warhorse was third.

“He wasn’t really travelling for the first two or three hundred metres and Mark’s horse (Oasis Rose) put a head on me in the straight,” Innes said. “My horse lifted the last bit and he’s still playing a bit of a game with them and really knuckled down to it in the last 50 metres.”

Sacred Falls represents the 13th winner at Gr.1 lever for his sire O’Reilly.

For the famed thoroughbred nursery Waikato Stud, he represents the 27th Gr.1 winner bred.