Podium steps up at first time of asking
 
          
Podium overcame an awkward barrier to post an impressive debut victory over 1200 metres at Wanganui on Thursday afternoon.
The Ocean Park filly, who had finished runner-up in a recent trial, drew one from the outside and jumped smartly for rider Johnathan Parkes, sporting the Waikato Stud silks.
Podium settled in third sport one off the fence before challenging three wide at the top of the straight and forged clear in the run home to score by 2.8l and make the perfect start to her career for trainers Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen.
The 3-year-old is a daughter of the Elusive Quality mare Quest For Quality, who won in Australia, and previous matings to Savabeel produced the winners Sparkling Facet and Quality Prevails.
Quest For Quality boasts an international pedigree as she is out of the unraced Danehill mare Rosnaree, who is half-sister to the G1 Grosser Preis von Baden and G1 Italian Derby winner Morshdi and a three-quarter sister to the G3 Turffontein Caradoc Gold Cup winner Ilitshe.
 
                      
                      The Corner with Garry Chittick
I keep on proposing my retirement from the burden of a weekly Corner. I make the excuse it is hard to be credible, hard to let the two of you know about anything in our sport that hasn’t been covered before.
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                      WS-bred On The Lash scores at Sha Tin
Twenty-four hours following the final WS Cox Plate meeting run on the Moonee Valley track of old before it shuts for two years to make way for a new precinct, the race’s 2004 winner, Savabeel, continued his roll of runners, and this time it was via five-year-old On The Lash (ex Candelabra) at Sha Tin.
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