Kansas off the mark in style

Kansas maintained her dam’s perfect strike rate at stud when she opened her account on a day of double delight for WS at Avondale this afternoon. The Garry Chittick-bred and owned daughter of O’Reilly is the second foal of the Pins mare Breezy to race with her first being the winner Flutter (Savabeel).

Trained at Matamata by Graham Richardson, Kansas settled behind the pace on the fence and finished stoutly under rider Trudy Thornton. The four-year-old had indicated she was ready to break her maiden when an unlucky fourth at Te Teko at her previous appearance.

The result would also have been welcomed by experienced horsemen Trevor McKee and Graeme Rogerson. The former bought Kansas’ sister for $120,000 from WS’s 2014 Premier Sale draft while Rogerson went to $200,000 the previous year for another full sibling. There is a strong international flavour to the family, which features the South African Group Two winner and Group One performer Dahlia’s Legacy.

Opt completed a winning double for the farm in the following maiden event when she was successful for trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott. Raced by the stud with Justice Goddard, the daughter of Zeditave was overdue a first win as she had placed six times from her previous 10 starts.

The three-year-old is out of the Danehill mare La Lagune, a dual stakes winner in Australian and runner-up in the Gr 1 Blue Diamond Stakes.