Victory Crowns Comeback

The touch of master trainer Bart Cummings was again evident when Rigging successfully returned from a lengthy break at Kembla Grange yesterday. The WS-bred and sold son of No Excuse Needed was back on track after nearly a year off due to injury to win first-up over 1200 metres.

Raced by the legendary horseman and Dato Tan Chin Nam, the five-year-old was making just his seventh appearance and had weighed in on four previous occasions. He was purchased by Cummings for $290,000 out of WS’s Premier draft in 2007 and is out of the Danasinga mare Windsong who is a half-sister to the Gr 2 Surround and Tea Rose Stakes winner Glenview. It is also the family of the Gr 1 South African Derby winner Timber Trader.

Meanwhile in Hong Kong, former stud resident Danasinga went close to providing the Matamata farm with a quinella at Sha Tin where Big Winner Again was a class five winner with Sammy’s Fortune claiming third money. The former, bought out of WS’s 2007 Premier Sale line-up by the Hong Kong Jockey Club for $160,000, is a brother to the multiple winner Striptease and the feature names in his pedigree are the Gr 1 winners Anacheeva (Caulfield Guineas) and Headturner (Australian Derby). Sammy’s Fortune, a $190,000 buy for the HKJC from WS’s draft in 2006, is a sibling to six winners including his Gr 2 Waikato Gold Cup winning sister Singing Star.