A FREE-flowing Vin De Dance had the necessary tenacity to win Murray Baker, who trains in partnership with Andrew Foresman, his second New Zealand Derby and eighth overall.
Jumping from barrier 13 of 16 from the 2,400-metre start at the top of the Ellerslie straight, jockey Jason Waddell had the Roc De Cambes gelding into a great rhythm allowing him to settle forward and one off the fence as the field found the first turn. Riding to his own tempo, Waddell resisted the first rush of blood at the 800-metre mark that saw an urgency send Endowment and Secret Ambition rush to the lead.
dig-in
Tracking that pair into the straight, Vin De Dance rose to the challenge to work to the front then dig in and hold Mongolianconqueror at bay to win by a nose from the Ocean Park gelding. Third, a length and a half away, was the grey Mastercraftsman filly Danzdanzdance.
“You are very difficult to please if you don’t rate Jason Waddell’s winning effort aboard Vin De Dance the ride of the day,” said Baker. “If it doesn’t win ride of the season, it will be in the trifecta result.”
Andrew Foresman was on hand at Ellerslie. “We thought we had the horse spot on today and Jason rode him a treat,” he said.
Present to accept the trophy was majority owner Terry Henderson of OTI Racing. “Murray and Andrew have done a remarkable job and when it comes to stayers they’ve got no peers,” said Henderson who paid NZ$70,000 for Vin De Dance at the 2016 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale.
“I rarely get emotional, but I’ve waited a long time to win this. I owe an enormous debt to this race and New Zealand-bred horses, it’s really special.”
Third at his first attempt at group racing two weeks earlier in the Avondale Guineas, Vin De Dance looks set to test his skills in Australia. “He’ll go to Sydney as long as he pulls up well,” concluded Henderson.
Godolphin buys Fastnet Rock top lot
THE Inglis Melbourne Premier Yearling Sale wrapped up its third and final session of Book 1 on Tuesday with Godolphin stepping in to buy the top lot for the sale, a colt by Coolmore’s Fastnet Rock out of Group 3 winner Lady Melksham, for A$500,000.
Overall 422 lots were sold at a clearance rate of 83% and averaging $118,333. The median was $100,000 and the gross $49.93 million. “Last year was the best Premier Yearling Sale we have ever had and this year’s version is right on par with that, so we must be satisfied with that,” said Inglis’ Victorian bloodstock manager Simon Vivian. The leading sires by average were Snitzel (five sold for an average of $291,000), Fastnet Rock (seven for $297,142) and I Am Invincible (11 for $256,364). Underpinning the sale were the Woodside Park stallions Zoustar (29 sold) and Written Tycoon (32) whose aggregates were $4.85 million and $4.36 million.