Racing: Midnight Oil's hooves too hot for rivals in Oaks

This was not a victory that surprised trainer Paul Duncan.

The underrated Cambridge horseman thought Midnight Oil could win Saturday's Wellfield New Zealand Oaks.

What surprised Duncan was how well apprentice Rosie Myers handled the strong-minded filly.

Midnight Oil is stroppy. Not excessively so, but no pushover.

When the Keeper filly was locked away behind the pace and had horses all around her at the 400m on Saturday, the Duncan heart was not strong.

"I was really worried, but I knew she needed only the right run through.

"She's very smart and she's as good as most of them."

The luck never varied. Midnight Oil dashed through close to the inside and the massive filly was too strong.

The $40,000 paid for the filly the week before paid a handsome dividend with the Oaks carrying a total purse of $300,000.

Midnight Oil had originally been raced on lease by a syndicate of 10 people and included in the agreement was a $40,000 right-of-purchase clause.

The decision was made easier after Midnight Oil won the group three $70,000 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings on March 5 to confirm an Oaks bid. She has now raced eight times for four wins and stake earnings of $236,000. Among the syndicate - named the Nineteenth Syndicate - are seven women, including Georgie Snelling, of Taupo, who helped put it together.

She said Midnight Oil was their third horse. The previous two had both been non-winners and, as a consequence, the makeup of the syndicate had changed markedly.

"There are only four members left of our original syndicate - people have come and gone," said Snelling on Saturday.

"One of the horses never even got to the races - she bled during a trial - and the other one was not that flash. She was retired without winning. Today is just a dream come true."

Also in the syndicate is Duncan, who is making Trentham into his favourite hunting ground with the Oaks his second win at group one level. His first was also scored there, when Oarsman won the 2003 Wellington Cup.

Midnight Oil showed she was Oaks material when winning a rating 70 race over 2100m at Trentham in January. Duncan said that was an important step towards Saturday's triumph.

"We wanted her to have experience down here and that really worked out well. She's so strong for a 3-year-old filly," Duncan said.

"Just recently she has thrived. She's a good eater, a good doer - that makes it easy when they are like that."

Duncan is unsure of future plans for Midnight Oil. He said a likely option was the A$400,000 Queensland Oaks (2400m) in Brisbane on June 4.

Midnight Oil's win provided her sire Keeper with his second successive New Zealand Oaks win, after the success of Keep The Peace last year. There is also an Oaks winner on the maternal side of Midnight Oil's family with her great grand-dam being Our Tristalight, winner of an AJC Oaks and a South Australian Oaks.

Second was outsider Zennista, who was taken to the lead with 1400m to run and for a long time in the straight looked as if she might pull off an upset.

There was half a length to Insurgent, who fought on from a handy position.

Additional reporting NZPA