With a pair of highly promising winners, a milestone for the season and a perfect exhibition gallop by a Group One-bound star, the Wexford Stables team had plenty of reasons to leave Te Rapa on Friday with a spring in their step.
Matamata trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott went into Friday’s race meeting with 49 wins to their name this season, and they lifted that total to 51 with victories by Sabrina Hall in the NZB Kiwi Preview Evening 6/3 (1400m) and Peerless in the Fairview Motors Mile (1600m).
O’Sullivan and Scott have trained in partnership since the 2013-14 season, and this is the second time that they have brought up a half-century of wins in a season. They trained a career-best 66 winners in 2023-24 – a total they are on pace to comfortably surpass with six months still remaining this term.
“It’s a nice wee milestone for the season and good reward for a lot of hard work put in by all of our team,” Scott said. “We’re lucky to have some fantastic horses around us at the moment, but also such committed and dedicated staff. All of their combined efforts have really paid off with the results we’ve been enjoying on raceday.”
Sabrina Hall opened her winning account in style on Friday, outclassing her opposition by four and a half lengths. The breakthrough performance came in her fourth career start, having produced strong finishes in all of her three previous appearances.
Bred and raced by Windsor Park Stud, Sabrina Hall is a four-year-old daughter of Mongolian Khan and the stakes-placed Guillotine mare Angelica Hall. She comes from a quality family that has produced quality black-type performers such as Greta Hall, Royal Descent, Madam Valeta, Falkirk and Golden Sword.
Notably, Falkirk was himself trained at Wexford by Paul O’Sullivan through the early stages of his high-class racing career.
“We’ve always had a very good opinion of Sabrina Hall,” Scott said. “She’s just been quite physically immature and a bit that way mentally too. She’s starting to make very good progress in both of those areas.
“She loves firm ground and really quickens on it. Windsor Park’s ‘Hall’ family has produced a number of quality horses over the years, and our Wexford team has had some luck with them in the past. Generally if you have one from that family that can quicken, they get to a good level. With a bit more experience and time, we believe she’ll be no exception to that.
“We’re very pleased for the Windsor Park team. They’ve had to be pretty patient with this mare, but I think that patience will be rewarded in time.”
Three-year-old gelding Peerless, meanwhile, cleared maiden ranks at his third attempt when he launched a big finish from the back of the field to win Friday’s maiden mile. The son of Wrote is now rated a $31 chance for the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on March 8.
“We think he’s a really promising staying type of horse,” Scott said. “He ran two encouraging races before today, but just needed that bit more confidence. He might be on his way now, and Rory (Hutchings, jockey) said he still felt like he wants to go further.
“We’ll carry on towards some of those three-year-old staying races that are coming up. Hopefully he’ll continue to progress.”
Meanwhile, Grail Seeker galloped between races at Te Rapa on Friday as she builds towards next Saturday’s Gr.1 BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at the same venue. The four-year-old daughter of Iffraaj has been one of New Zealand racing’s brightest stars this season, winning the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) in her only two starts.
Grail Seeker heads the TAB’s BCD Group Sprint market at $2.40.
“We got what we wanted out of her gallop today,” Scott said. “She was only out there for a quiet piece of work. We think she looks forward enough in her condition for next Saturday.
“Kevin (Stott, jockey) reported that she felt comfortable on the firmer ground today, so it was good to tick that box. She’s pulled up really well too. We’re very pleased with how she’s shaping up.”
Friday’s pleasing afternoon came at the end of a busy week at Karaka for the Wexford team, who bought 13 horses from the Book 1 sale and one from Book 2.
“We had a really good week there,” Scott said. “We bought some lovely horses. We have a wee way to go with the syndication of some of them, but we stayed within our budget and we couldn’t be more pleased with the quality that we’ve got.
“We’ve been lucky enough to secure some great horses at the sale over the years, and we believe the ones we’ve brought home this week could be right up there in terms of quality.”