Lovaci headed to stakes company
A well-related mare added winning momentum toward her bid for higher honours when she romped to victory at Tauranga on Friday afternoon.
The Stephen Marsh-trained Waikato Stud graduate Lovaci was given a dream ride in the trail by Courtney Barnes and accelerated quickly along the fence in the straight to score by 2.8 lengths.
“She’s beautifully bred on the dam’s side and I think she can go one to get some black type,” Marsh said.
He went to $280,000 at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale to secure Lovaci, whose dam Loveable is a half-sister to the late multiple Group 1 winner and successful sire Sacred Falls.
Other notable family members include the Group winners Splurge, Shopaholic, Splashing Out, Packing Pins and Milford.
Lovaci cleared the gates quickly to sit in third spot on the rail and the four-year-old finished off in style in the run home to take her record to a brace of wins and five placings from eight appearances.
“It was a beautiful ride, she hasn’t been the easiest of mares, and Courtney does a lot of work for us so I love to see her riding winners,” Marsh said.
Ardrossan’s Group 1-placed darling wins A$300,000 Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes
Second and fourth in 1600m Group 1 races in her two previous starts since being purchased privately by OTI Racing and stepping out in Australia under Chris Waller’s racing banner, De Armas (Ardrossan) stepped up in distance at Flemington on Saturday and opened her Australian account in style in the A$300,000 Gr.2 HKJC World Pool Wakeful Stakes (2000m) on Derby Day.
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The Corner with Garry Chittick
The writing of my Corner started many years ago, motivated by an irritation that I felt needed scratching. It was never my intention to make my commentary regular; neither did I intend to reinvent the direction of racing administration. It is both disappointing and ironical that what should be a simple, straightforward business provides a regular need for comment.
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