Doomben double for o’reilly

5 December 2015

Whakatoi produced the first winning strike of her career at Doomben yesterday to set up a winning double for the late O’Reilly. The five-year-old followed up a previous placing with success at her middle distance debut.

Trained by John Meagher with his sons Chris and Dan, the WS-bred mare was a $130,000 yearling purchase. She is out of the unraced Encosta de Lago mare De Lago Lady, who is a half-sister to the former champion two-year-old and multiple Group One winner Maroofity.

O’Reilly’s daughter O’Reilly Cyrus, another WS home-bred, later made the perfect start when she won the juvenile sprint on debut. Trained by Liam Birchley, she was a $100,000 purchase at Karaka last year for the Eagle Farm horseman.

O’Reilly Cyrus is out of the Masterclass mare Dancing Mistress, who is the dam of the stakes winner Savour The Moment (Savabeel). It is also the family of the Gr 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes winner O’Marilyn.

Ocean Park’s With Grace seals NZ Cup berth

South Auckland mare With Grace secured her berth in next month’s Gr.3 Martin Collins New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton when extending her winning sequence to four with victory in the Baker Tilly Staples Rodway 2100 at Te Rapa on Labour Day Monday.

27 October 2026

Bonecrusher Stakes next for Justin Case

Trainer Kris Shailer has confirmed that his exciting three-year-old Justin Case will bypass next month’s Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in favour of stakes targets closer to home.