An extraordinary performance by Sister Ping at Cambridge on Wednesday has Chad Ormsby excited about the filly’s prospects for her three-year-old season.
The daughter of Street Boss made her first start for Ormsby. The two-year-old was sent out as a +230 favourite with horse betting sites against older opposition, but she appeared to have lost all hope when she reared at the start and was languishing five lengths behind the second-last horse.
Sister Ping’s recovery had to be seen to be believed. She was still at the back of the field at the home turn, but jockey Kelly Myers angled her to the outside and she charged home to win by half a length.
“That was a remarkable performance,” Ormsby said. “We expected her to go well, but to do it like that and come away with a pretty comfortable win in the end, it was quite amazing. You don’t often see them win like that.”
Sister Ping races in the colours of Trelawney Stud’s Brent, Cherry and Faith Taylor. The chestnut filly was a $250,000 yearling purchase by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis, and she collected a placing from two starts for Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson before joining Ormsby’s Cambridge stable earlier this year.
“She’s got a lot of talent,” Ormsby said. “We’ve been working along with her for quite a while. She’s been a bit of a problem child, but I think she’s starting to put things together now.
“We should have a lot to look forward to in her three-year-old season. She’s already gone out for a spell. We’ll just play it by ear. Once she’s back in work, we’ll get a line on how she’s going and make a plan on what sort of races we target.
“At this stage I think her distance might be around 1200m. She won’t have to go much further than that in the early part of her three-year-old season anyway, so that’s what we’ll look at to start with and then take it from there. I’m looking forward to it.”
In the meantime, Ormsby has talented three-year-old Lord Weyburn resuming at Ruakaka.
The Charm Spirit gelding has recorded two wins and a second from nine starts so far. He was runner-up in a trial at Waipa on July 4, where black-type performer It’s Business Time finished behind him in third.
Michael McNab will take the mount on Lord Weyburn on Saturday, and is rated a +380 third favourite behind Fernandez (+290) and local filly Dancing Dream (+320).
“He’s coming up really nicely,” Ormsby said. “I’m happy with him. He’s a bit of an overachiever and always seems to put his best foot forward. I think he’s ready to run a solid race first-up.”
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