One Dream One Soul stretches out well under the urgings of apprentice Lily Sutherland to get up and score a half-head win over 2060m at Wanganui last week. The Ekraar mare will now do her future racing in Australia.
Hastings-trained One Dream One Soul scored a deserved win at Wanganui last week but will now do her future racing in Australia.
The mare’s connections have decided to lease a 50 per cent share in her to Victorian trainer John Leek and she is booked on a flight from Auckland to Melbourne on November 22.
One Dream One Soul made up for some unlucky runs this time in with a game win in a Rating 75 race over 2060m at Wanganui on Thursday last week.
The five-year-old Ekraar mare was coming off three previous unplaced runs this season but should have finished a lot closer in all three.
She only beat two home over 1400m on the first day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival, on September 9, but pulled up lame after the race. It was found that a nail had embedded itself in the horse’s near-side front hoof. Rider Lisa Allpress told the stipendiary stewards the mare felt indifferent in her action, which was not surprising given the horse’s affliction.
One Dream One Soul then contested a 1600m race on the second day of the Hawke’s Bay spring carnival, on September 23 and, although she only managed to beat one home when seventh out of eight runners, she finished the race off well after a slow start saw her a long way off the pace starting the last 800m.
The daughter of Ekraar then stepped up to 2000m on the final day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival, on October 14, but was again plagued by bad luck. The mare was just starting to mount a rails run inside the final 300m when she suddenly got blocked as the leader shifted inwards, slamming her against the running rail.
She was seventh across the line again but would have fought out the finish with a clear run.
Trainer Lee Somervell gave the mare a brief freshen-up after that run before setting her for last week’s Wanganui race.
“She had been unlucky in her last three starts on premier days so we decided to lower our sights a bit,” Somervell said this week.
“It was only a $18,000 race at Wanganui but it was a good chance to get her confidence back and she won really well.”
One Dream One Soul was again squeezed up at the start but apprentice rider Lily Sutherland didn’t panic, letting the horse find her feet and settle into a nice rhythm at the back of the field.
Somervell said both he and his partner Shirin Wood, who bred and co-owns the mare, were starting to get concerned when their charge was still back a clear last midway through the race.
But Sutherland obviously knew what she had under her and started a forward move starting the last 800m.
One Dream One Soul ranged up wide out on the track rounding the home bend and then produced a strong finish down the outside of the track to sweep past her rivals for a half-head victory.
Somervell said it was a winning performance that caught the eye of Australian trainer John Feek, who was quick to suggest the mare would be ideally placed in much richer races in Australia.
“John said you have to get this mare over here [Australia] as she is certainly capable of winning some good prize money,” Somervell said.
“We had a talk about it and sending her over there is the best thing to do,” Somervell said.
“There are so many good races for fillies and mares over in Victoria and, if she can acclimatise okay, I have no doubt she can pick up a really good win there.”
Somervell said he had been planning to run One Deam One Soul in the $25,000 Waipukurau Cup (1600m) at Hastings on November 19, a race she finished an unlucky third in last year.
“I won it two years ago with No Rock No Pop so it would have been nice to have another go at it with this mare but the money is so good in Australia that it was a “no brainer” when it came down to deciding whether she should go.
“I must admit that I do have mixed feelings about her going, though.
“I’m happy that she will get every opportunity to win some good money over in Australia and add to her value as a future broodmare but I’m also a bit sad to lose her as I think she was just starting to reach her potential.
“She has been a slow-maturing mare and I think she is just starting to really come to it now.”
One Dream One Soul has had 33 starts for four wins, six seconds and a third, and has won more than $112,000 in stake money.
She finished second in the Group 2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings as a three-year-old and was also fourth in the Group 3 Manawatu Breeders Stakes (2000m).
The mare is owned by Shirin Wood in partnership with her Australian-based son Calvin, good friend Pene Wisdom and the Ryan Boys Syndicate, which is made up of Wood’s three grandsons.
Wood and her family bred One Dream One Soul out of the now-deceased Towkay mare Sheeza Kinda Magic and she is a full-sister to One Prize One Goal (five wins) and a half-sister to Jacob Gambino (four wins).
One Dream One Soul was one of only two horses Somervell had in work. The other was Courvoisier, a Proisir mare who has now been retired after finishing well back in a 1200m trial at Woodville last Monday.
“It means I’ll have nothing in work once One Dream One Soul goes,” Somervell said.
“I’m going to have a bit of a break but I’m not about to retire. Training horses is not a job, it’s a lifestyle and I love it.”
Jimmysstar wins Australian debut
Former Hastings-trained galloper Jimmysstar produced an outstanding last-to-first performance when making his Australian debut at Bendigo on Wednesday last week.
The Per Incanto four-year-old, formerly prepared by Guy Lowry, was purchased by clients of the Cairon Maher and David Eustace stable last month and was having his first start since scoring an impressive fresh-up win over 1200m on the first day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, on September 9.
He was stepped up to 1300m in a $50,000 Rating 70 race at Bendigo and rider Blake Shinn elected to take him back to last in the early stages, from a wide draw.
The big chestnut was still a long way off the leaders rounding the home turn and Shinn decided to stick to the inside and ride for luck.
There were some anxious moments as Shinn searched for a run between horses but when he finally got a needle-eye gap, Jimmysstar dashed through and raced clear to win by 1-1/4 lengths.
Shinn was lauded by everyone on course for his daring ride but was nonchalant in his response saying: “I knew I had a lap full of horse. I had a conservative run and when you conserve energy like that you know you will have plenty at the finish.”
Cairon Maher said Jimmysstar arrived from New Zealand in great order and the gelding impressed a barrier trial before making his Australian debut.
“He’s a strong, well-put-together horse and he’s a real winner so I think he’ll have a good future here,” he said.
Jimmysstar was having only his fourth start and now boasts a record of three wins and a second. He was bred at Little Avondale Stud and is out of the Zed mare Anniesstar, who was the winner of five races.
Hastings races on November 19
The Waipukurau Jockey Club will stage its Christmas at the Races race day on the Hastings track on Sunday November 19.
At this stage a nine-race programme has been scheduled, with the feature event the $25,000 Waipukurau Cup (1600m).
The first race is timed for 12.40pm and the last at 5.30pm. The gates open from 11.30am.
There will be a $10 admission charge.
Pure Incanto chasing black type
Talented mare Pure Incanto will be using today’s Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint (1200m) at Te Rapa as a lead-up to a Group 1 mission on New Year’s Day.
The sparingly raced daughter of Per Incanto will be having her second start back in what will be her last racing campaign before she heads to the broodmare paddock.
The winner of three races from only 16 starts, Pure Incanto showed her class by taking out the Listed $65,000 Power Turf Sprint (1200m) at Hastings in the autumn and her New Plymouth trainer Janelle Millar is confident she will measure up to the top sprinters.
“She’s under-estimated really and hasn’t had many starts. We’re chasing more black type this year because she’s in foal to Proisir,” Millar said.
“I was confident leading into her last win at Hastings and she proved she was up to it, and I think she’ll be competitive on Saturday from a good draw, and with only 53kg on her back.”
All going well, Pure Incanto will bow out in the Group 1 $450,000 Sistema Railway Stakes (1200m) at Pukekohe on New Year’s Day.
Iridescent, a 3-year-old filly, will debut in the 1200m race.