Wonderful Waitak streets Livamol Classic rivals to ascend to the throne

Waitak produced one of the great modern-day wins at Ellerslie today. Photo / Kenton Wright

Waitak delivered on a promise he made to the New Zealand racing industry nearly two years ago with a dazzling demolition job in the Livamol Classic at Ellerslie today.

When the Matamata gelding came from last to win the Sistema Railway at Pukekohe on New Year’s Day 2024, it was the win of a special horse – an excitement machine – suggesting he could one day become the best horse in the country.

That day has arrived.

Waitak destroyed the last two winners of Horse of the Year in El Vencedor and Sharp N Smart, coming from midfield to roar past El Vencedor at the 250m mark and race to clear to win the $550,000 Livamol by more than five lengths.

It was one of the great modern-day Group 1 wins in this country and there can be no doubt that today, and perhaps for a while yet to come, Waitak was the best horse in the country.

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing. After that Railway stunner, Waitak lost his next 11 races.

Punters could have been forgiven for wondering whether he was just a shooting star who burned too briefly across the racing sky.

But trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott never lost faith.

Their horse has grown up mentally and matured physically – and he has now won four of his last five starts, two of them at Group 1 level, and was luckless in his only defeat since March.

The farcical early pace in the Livamol played into his hooves, his sprinter’s kick helping him overcome what should have been a bad race shape for him.

This was still a special victory, jockey Craig Grylls smiling in disbelief as he crossed the line a cricket pitch in front of his rivals.

The beauty of Waitak is how many options he has in the next six months, being proficient at 1400m but now deadly at 1600 and up to 2040m.

He can also handle wet tracks and most importantly Ellerslie on a Good 4, which is crucial as there are three major Group 1 targets for him between Boxing Day and Champions Day in early March.

The Livamol was his first win in six starts at headquarters.

“That was pretty special to beat two horses as good as the placegetters and do it that easily,” said Scott.

“We got it wrong last spring, he had a hard run in his first start back and took a while to recover so we decided to give him an easier workload to start this season and it has really agreed with him.

“We were confident he was better for this race than he was when he won at Te Rapa.”


Scott and O’Sullivan will ignore any temptation to take Waitak to Australia for the abundance of rich races in the next month, instead sending him to the paddock on Monday.

“He deserves a break and then we will probably go TAB Mile at Trentham into the Zabeel Classic back here on Boxing Day and some other great targets over the summer.

“It is really exciting to see him becoming the horse we all hoped he might be.”


Although Cambridge trainer Stephen Marsh had to settle for second with El Vencedor, he still shared honours for the day with four training successes, including the quinella in the $175,000 Windsor Park Soliloquy Stakes.

Having just her second start, his filly Well Written bolted away with the Group 2, winning by six-and-a-half lengths and rocketing to $4 favouritism for the NZ 1000 Guineas at Riccarton next month.

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.