Kovalica gives Ocean Park and Saturday double in Gr.2 Q22

Kovalica made a welcome return to winning form when he prevailed in a pulsating three-horse finish to the A$1.2 million Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Q22 (2200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.

The Kiwi-bred son of Ocean Park was the standout three-year-old of the Queensland Winter Carnival two years ago, winning the Gr.1 Queensland Derby (2400m) and Gr.2 Queensland Guineas (1600m), and placing against older horses at weight-for-age in the Gr.1 Doomben Cup (2000m).

“It was a long ride back to scale, making sure that I’d got there,” jockey Nash Rawiller said.

“What a horse he’s been. We made a call during the week – as late as Tuesday morning – to put the blinkers on today. You could tell in the run that he was going to do something. He’s so strong. I thought he’d keep going, even though he pulled a bit in the race.”

The Chris Waller-trained Kovalica has now had 30 starts for seven wins, eight placings and A$4.18 million in prizemoney for owners Neville Morgan and David Devine.

“It took the length of the Eagle Farm straight to get there,” Waller said. “First win for a couple of years, but we haven’t lost faith in him and he’s been a good horse without winning. He’s been working to something good.”

“He might win his next race again this time next year, if not two years. He’ll be back to Queensland.”

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Kovalica was bred by Nearco Stud and offered through Curraghmore’s 2021 Karaka Book 1 Yearling Sale draft, where he was purchased by Mulcaster Bloodstock for $110,000. He is out of the Makfi mare Vitesse, a half-sister to triple Group One winner The Bostonian and Group Three winner Cheval D’Or.

Kovalica wasn’t the only one to steal the show on Saturday, with four-year-old Identikit, bred and owned by Melinda Rix, putting on a dominant display at Wanganui over 2040m.

Under the guidance of Leah Hemi for trainer Lisa Latta, they had to chase down the runaway leader before taking over at the 400m mark to win by 6.8 lengths on the heavy 10 surface.

Identikit is by Ocean Park out of the High Chaparral mare Kit. He is her third foal, with Kit not having been covered since.