Patience rewarded with panna cotta

9 March 2015

Pins mare Panna Cotta put a number of issues behind her when she won the closing event of the Auckland Cup carnival on Saturday. The four-year-old showed her true worth with a gritty defeat of the Rating 65 sprinters for the third win of her career.

Bred by WS, the mare is raced by a syndicate that includes Mark Chittick and Mapperley Stud’s Simms Davison. “She’s always showed a fair bit, but she’s had some problems and a niggling cough,” trainer Stephen Marsh said. “The owners have been very patient and there’s a few more wins in her yet.”

Panna Cotta is out of the winning O’Reilly mare Vanilla Sky, who has been a good producer at stud. She is also the dam of the Listed Lion Red Plate winner and Group One performer Raid (Pins) and Lapel (Pins), the winner of eight races in Australia.

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.

27 October 2026

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.