Racing: Cooksley in dashing form

Grant Cooksley delivered a timely reminder to punters looking for a jockey to follow over the Christmas racing period when he kicked home an impressive quartet of victories at Ellerslie yesterday.

Nobody has ever doubted the riding ability or class of Cooksley, but many New Zealand fans have not seen the riding skills of this jockey who has been based overseas in recent years.

Cooksley dominated the Auckland Racing Club's meeting by winning all three of the feature events, aboard Sedecrem, Black Panther and Viennetta.

He also teamed up with Ala Moana to win the final event.

Sedecrem, Black Panther and Ala Moana are trained at Pukekohe Park by Richard Yuill, who was full of praise for the deft riding skills of Cooksley.

When Yuill pats a jockey on the back after a race it is warranted.

Yuill trained in partnership for many years with the great Colin Jillings - renowned for his ruthless attitude towards jockeys - if they rode a bad race on a stable runner and were not prepared to admit it afterwards.

Cooksley settled Sedecrem back off the pace in the $50,000 Great Northern Challenge Stakes and worked off the rails into the middle of the field at the top of the home turn.

The gelding unleashed a blistering sprint over the closing 100 metres to win by a half-length over Kristov with the same margin back to the favourite Magnetism.

The 7-year-old has been a stable favourite with Yuill for a number of years, during which the classy performer has been troubled by chronic feet problems throughout his career.

"Every morning I just want to give him a pat and say 'hi mate', because he's a favourite horse with all of the staff here in my barn," said Yuill.

"He needs a lot of farrier work to keep on top of his feet problems but he's such a genuine horse who gives it everything when he gets out on the track.

"I wasn't that worried when he got back on the rails, because he's a very fast finisher at the end of his races and once he got out and rolling today in the straight he picked up Kristov and Magnetism."

Cooksley used similar riding tactics aboard exciting 3-year-old Black Panther in the $20,000 NZ Insurance Triple Crown.

Black Panther worked off the rails in the home stretch and lengthened stride like a high-class equine athlete to gun down the gallant America's Cup to score a narrow neck victory. A further 1 3/4 lengths away in third position was Congaline.

This victory was the third from five starts for the striking son of Kaapstad, tipped by many fans as a horse to look out for in the New Zealand Derby in March at Ellerslie.

Viennetta sat outside the leader throughout the running of the $75,000 NRM/Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes and slipped into overdrive with 200m remaining, accelerating away from the opposition to win by three lengths over Kew and Clean Sweep (third).

The 4-year-old mare, which is bred to sprint, being by Pins out of the former speed machine Bali Sugar, has scored four wins and a third placing from eight starts for Awapuni-based trainers Peter and Nikki Hurdle.

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Victory for Lammas

Cameron Lammas was rewarded for a patient ride when posting an easy victory aboard Kissy Mullins in the Rating 92 sprint.

He settled the 6-year-old Volksraad-sired mare three places back against the rails and timed his challenging burst to perfection, working out one off the rails in the home stretch to lengthen stride effortlessly to score by three-quarters of a length over Eloa.

The same margin away in third position was the solid finishing Dipped 'N' Grey.

The 1200 metres was cut out in a brisk 1:10.66 on a track that had seen plenty of rain on Friday night, but held up well throughout the day.

Kissy Mullins has been in superlative form and should be followed over the Christmas racing period.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY