Winning Double For Farm On Foxbridge Feature Day

WS celebrated their successful sponsorship of the Gr 3 Foxbridge Plate with a winning treble of their own at Te Rapa.

Farm graduates Pump Up The Volume, Double O Seven and Showing Off were impressive victors of their respective Rating 65 and 75 events while No Excuse Maggie capped a big day by claiming the main event at the Otaki meeting.

A $14,000 weanling, Pump Up The Volume is by Savabeel out of the dual Gr 3 Cornwall Handicap and Rotorua Cup winner Nat The Brat. He is a half-brother to the two-time winner and stakes performer Vera Pro Gratis (O’Reilly) and to the dam of the Listed Wanganui Guineas winner Takeanotherchance (No Excuse Needed).

Pump Up The Volume has now won two of his five starts for Cambridge trainer Ralph Manning. “He’s gone over ground now and that’s what he’s bred to do,” stable representative Ivan Julian said. “He’s always showed us a fair bit and is now just growing into himself.” The four-year-old was ridden by Leith Innes, who said the gelding was a “nice, progressive stayer.”

Double O Seven, bred by Garry Chittick, completed a WS double when successful for Hastings trainers Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen. “He’s been very consistent and deserved this,” Lowry said. The seven-year-old had headed north with three consecutive runner-up finishes to his credit.

By No Excuse Needed, Double O Seven was a $22,000 yearling and is the winner of four races. He is out of the Defensive Play mare Impassive Lady who is an unraced half-sister to one of the farm’s leading graduates – the six-time Gr 1 winner Slight Chance (Centaine).

Top jockey James McDonald rode Double O Seven and also guided the promising four-year-old Showing Off to the third win of her seven start career. “We had a lovely trip an then it got a bit tight, but she burst through like good horses should,” he said. “She’s got a lot of ability and if she can get black type then she’ll be a valuable broodmare.”

By Savabeel, Showing Off is out of the O’Reilly mare Maggie O’Reilly and is a half-sister to the Listed Matamata Cup winner No Excuse Maggie (No Excuse Needed). She was back to her very best at Otaki where she was successful in the open sprint. The half-siblings represent the outstanding WS family of the Gr 1 winners Glamour Puss and Vision And Power.