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.

Oaks Day glory for Waikato Stud-bred Sulek

Waikato Stud enjoyed a special moment on Oaks Day at Flemington on Thursday, when the New Zealand-bred gelding Sulek – by Super Seth out the O’Reilly mare Tiff And Co, saluted on one of the biggest days of the racing calendar and in front of an international crowd. Bred by the farm in partnership with the Dowager Duchess of Bedford, Sulek took out the A$500,000 Cirka Melbourne Cup Carnival Country Final (1600m) for the third and most lucrative win of his career.

5 November 2026

The Corner with Garry Chittick

And so, another Melbourne Cup has been run. Regretfully, Mary and I were not there. I have no idea how many we attended up until COVID, and I miss the Cup week. Victoria prides itself as the sporting capital of Australia; it may be, they certainly know how to create an event.