Saturday double for Ocean Park with Wanless colours to the fore
Racing returned to Ellerslie Racecourse on Saturday, 1 February and it was Oceana Dream who closed out the metropolitan card with a determined victory over 1600m.
Bred and raced by Australian identities Judi and Ron Wanless, who race the dual winner Centennial Park (Super Seth) in Australia with Tony and Calvin McEvoy, the three-year-old filly made it back-to-back wins taking Ridefromtheashes right to the line two lengths on the field.
This was her second win for trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood who earlier in the week bought a yearling daughter of Ocean Park from Book 1 of the NZB Karaka Yearling Sale.
Meanwhile, in New Plymouth, the Tony Pike-trained Lanikai (ex Oahu) put in an enormous performance sitting mid-field throughout the 1800m journey to circle the field, balance up and power home recording the fastest sectionals in the final three furlongs.
The son of Ocean Park was a $165,000 graduate of the Waikato Stud draft bought by Pike Racing.
The Corner with Garry Chittick
It would appear I now have to continue my weekly Corner with the amount of rumblings at the start of our new racing season. I have been around long enough to know we can never please all; my tenure as Chairman of the Racing Board was subjected to as much vitriol as subsequent Boards have had to bear, so what’s different this time, or is it different.
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First foal for Waikato’s Group 1 winner Skew Wiff
Group 1-winning Savabeel mare Skew Wiff (ex Starvoia), known affectionately as ‘Wiffy’, foaled a filly by Super Seth in the early hours of Wednesday, 5 August.
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