Autumn Glory stunned at Te Rapa on Saturday but is no certainty to start in the New Zealand Oaks. Photo / Kenton Wright
One horse has thrown the markets for two of New Zealand’s classic races into confusion.
Te Rapa’s mammoth meeting on Saturday was moving day for our elite staying 3-year-olds and in the case of Ohope Wins, she moved all the way into favouritism for both the New Zealand Oaks and Trackside New Zealand Derby.
Not only did she come from near last to win the $275,000 Ellis Classic against a hot field but her final 100m screamed “Oaks winner in waiting”.
The question now, though, is whether she is also a Derby winner in waiting – and a few rival trainers wouldn’t mind knowing the answer to that.
Ohope Wins is now the $2.20 favourite for the Oaks, which has not only change date from late March to February 21 but has also moved from Trentham to Ellerslie.
Very few fillies have contested both the Derby at Ellerslie and then the Oaks at Trentham in the last two decades but with the two classics now run two weeks apart at Ellerslie, attempting the double becomes far more attractive.
Ohope Wins’ co-trainer Lance O’Sullivan says it is possible and he knows from first-hand experience it can be done.
“It is a possibility she could tackle both,” O’Sullivan told the Herald.
“I rode a filly called Royal Magic for Dad [Dave O’Sullivan] back in 1992 that won the Queensland Oaks one Saturday and the Queensland Derby seven days later.
“I am not saying that we will try the double with this filly but the change of date and track makes it at least a possibility.
“The Oaks is her aim and we will see how she comes through that and we would only do what is in the filly’s best interests.”
Ohope Wins is now part-owned by breeding and racing giant Yulong, which also owns half of NZB Kiwi favourite Well Written.
When Yulong bought into Well Written, part of the deal was she will be trained by Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh for her career – whereas that was not part of the Ohope Wins deal so she could, like many of Yulong’s horses, end up in Australia after the Ellerslie carnivals.
But Yulong representatives in Sydney yesterday told the Herald no decision had been made yet on where and for who Ohope Wins will race after next month.
Ohope Wins wasn’t the only filly to snare herself a serious black-type win at Te Rapa, with Autumn Glory stunning punters by beating the boys in the $275,000 Legacy Lodge Waikato Guineas.
Her co-trainer Robert Wellwood says where she heads next is yet to be decided but he wouldn’t mind know where Ohope Wins was going.
“We have two options, either the Avondale Guineas or the Oaks on February 21,” Wellwood said. “And then all going well, into the Derby.
“The Oaks is obviously worth more than the Avondale Guineas but it was hard not to be impressed by what we saw from Ohope Wins on Saturday.
“I am not saying we can’t beat her but you have to respect how well she won.
“So with her going to the Oaks, we could take what might be an easier option of going the Avondale Guineas into the Derby.”
That suggests punters considering backing Autumn Glory in the Oaks, for which she is the $4.50 second-favourite, should be very careful because she may not start in that Group 1 and the TAB market is all-in, meaning is you back her and she doesn’t start, you do your money cold.
But Wellwood confirms punters can bet with a little more confidence around Auckland Cup favourite The Precursor.
He and training partner Roger James were non-committal about an Avondale-Auckland Cup campaign after the giant galloper won the Remutaka Classic at Trentham nine days ago, but Wellwood says The Precursor has come through that run well so the two Ellerslie staying features are now firmly on his radar.
In other future markets news to come out of a sensational Saturday co-trainer Ken Kelso says there is very little chance Herbie Dyke winner Legarto will start in the Ōtaki-Māori Classic at Ellerslie on February 21.
“I don’t think dropping her back to 1600m would be the right thing to do,” Kelso said.
“We haven’t made any decisions yet but we will probably look to find a trial or even exhibition gallop to keep her up to the mark for the Bonecrusher [Ellerslie, March 7].”
Legarto is the $4.50 second-favourite for the Ōtaki-Māori Classic and while she won’t be starting, the race will be hot, with First Five, Pier, Tuxedo and Waitak all heading there.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.