Son of Tivaci strikes again
The lightly tried Draft Day doubled his winning tally on Monday afternoon with success on the synthetic track at Pakenham and rider Jamie Mott expects the four-year-old to continue his march through the grades.
Trained by Leon and Troy Corstens, the son of Tivaci scored for the second time in four starts when he proved too good for his rivals over 1200 metres in his first appearance in blinkers.
“He’s got a fair bit of ability and he was strong to the line and he’s definitely a horse that can go on with it,” Mott said.
The Waikato Stud graduate Draft Day, who sports the colours of prominent owner Rupert Legh, settled back on the fence before improving near the turn and finished resolutely over the closing 250 metres.
“Obviously, the blinkers can fire some horses up so I thought I might have a bit of a challenge, but he was very good,” Mott said.
“I ended up in a spot I didn’t want to be in, but a couple peeled off and we got out of a tight spot.”
Draft Day was bought out of the Matamata nursery’s New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale draft for $85,000 by Malua Racing and Flemington Bloodstock.
His dam Miss Lioness is a half-sister to the ill-fated multiple Group 1 winner Lion Tamer and the fourth dam Blue Denim also won three top-flight events.
The G2 Tulloch S. winner and G1 Australian Derby runner-up Harris Tweed is another member of the family.
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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