They were right.
Gifted a beautiful run three back on the fence by jockey Craig Grylls in a messy race, Orchestral got the gap at the right time, transitioning into the home straight, and then came the good part.
Once balanced up she looks like the Orchestral of last season. It only took 10 magical seconds for her to go from fourth to first, past Mary Shan, joining Probabeel as the only horse to win two $1m or richer races at a Karaka Millions.
“That was a relief,” said James.
“Not because we ever doubted her but because they still have to do it.
“We knew she was well enough and in the same form as last year but she was having no luck.
“So to see her go out and do it, like that, is very special.”
James and Wellwood now have a range of options with Orchestral and while they, like most, don’t make big decisions on race day, it wouldn’t surprise to see their stable star head back to 2000m racing.
“She could go to the Herbie Dyke [Te Rapa, February 8] but we will decide the next few days,” said James.
That could roll into a return to Ellerslie for the Bonecrusher NZ Stakes on Champions Day, March 8, while Victoria and New South Wales could beckon as today’s win came at only her second start back so there are bullets still to be fired.
While James and Wellwood pulled off a wonderful training performance so too did expat Kiwi champion trainer Chris Waller in the $600,000 Westbury Classic.
Waller, the king of Sydney racing, brought Konasana across the Tasman off the back of a Group 3 win at Wyong and dropped her back 225m in distance.
That usually doesn’t work.
But Waller is Waller and, aided by a well-timed Rory Hutchings’ ride, Konasana enormously boosted her value and maybe set the tone for future Waller raids on our biggest carnivals.
That would be bad news for local trainers but great news for New Zealand racing and the TAB, with any Waller bringing eyeballs and extra turnover.
The meeting started with a minor upset when Ardalio at only her third start stormed home to win the $250,000 Cambridge Stud Almanzor Trophy.
Trained by Stephen Marsh and ridden by Michael McNab she downed Vegas Queen and the late-charging Cheaha, with favourite Poetic Champion fading to fourth after failing to handle the bend into the straight smoothly.
The win continued a recent surge for Ardalio’s sire Ardrossan, who has had a huge month heading into the Karaka yearling sales which start on Sunday.
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.
