Grande Gallo collected her third win from four starts at Tauranga with a narrow victory over three-year-old Yaldi in the Triton Pacific Owens Plate (1200m) on Saturday.
The daughter of Belardo won the three-year-old race on the undercard of this same Japan Trophy meeting 12 months ago, which has proved to be a strong form reference for the 2025 edition.
Grande Gallo won that race by two lengths over You Say D’Orsay, who also returned a year later on Saturday and won the Stu Cundy Bayleys Country & Lifestyle (1400m).
Grande Gallo has been lightly raced since that Tauranga victory last autumn, with Saturday’s $50,000 open sprint being only her third start as a four-year-old this season. She was a brilliant winner over 1200m at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, then returned there last month for an unlucky eighth over 1400m.
Trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott dropped Grande Gallo back down to 1200m on Saturday and struck gold.
Grande Gallo and jockey George Rooke settled in fourth among a six-horse field as Miss Rockette, Pow Wow,* and Pitkin County pushed forward to contest the lead in the early stages of the race.
Things changed quickly coming into the home turn as Grande Gallo and Yaldi launched their bids from off the pace.
This season’s Group.2 Auckland Guineas (1400m) winner Yaldi lengthened stride and loomed ominously down the outside of the track, while Grande Gallo burst through a narrow opening closer to the rail.
That pair drew away from the rest of the field to fight out a head-bobbing finish, which Grande Gallo won by a half-head.
“The plan was to sit outside the leader, but she wasn’t the best away,” Rooke said. “So we settled a bit further behind, and she travelled beautifully.
There was half a gap in the straight, and she made it a full gap. I was impressed with the way she changed gears and then put her nose down to get the result.”
Grande Gallo was bred by Haunui Farm, who offered her in their Book 2 draft at Karaka 2022. She was bought by Wexford Stables for $85,000.
The four-year-old has now recorded five wins and a placing from a 12-start career, earning $182,475 for a big syndicate of owners.
“She loves Tauranga and seems to get around here particularly well,” Scott said. “George did a good job to get her into that hot lane two or three off the fence, where a lot of winners have been today.
That was key. It was a very good effort to beat Yaldi, who got out in the open in the straight and appeared to have every chance to get past her.
“Hopefully she’ll keep stepping up from here. She’ll love the autumn ground, so this shouldn’t be her last win this preparation.
She’s a big, robust mare who can handle all sorts of conditions.
“This is a great result for a massive group of owners, who will celebrate it well.
“There’s a nice fillies and mares’ race here a bit further down the track. We’d love to bring her back here for that.”
That potential target is the Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic (1400m), which will be run on June 21.
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