The wine was flowing for Peter and Dawn Williams and owner Daniel Nakhle following Ellerslie’s Karka Millions meeting last month, and they are hoping their run of luck continues at the Auckland track this weekend.
The Williams’ trained Desert Lightning to victory in the inaugural $1 million Aotearoa Classic (1600m), while Crocetti carried Nakhle’s colours to a seventh straight victory in the Group 3 Almanzor Trophy (1200m).
The Williams’ and Nakhle will be on the same team this weekend when promising mare Pour The Wine aims to score her third straight victory in the Bentleys Chartered Accountants 1200m.
The four-year-old daughter of Telperion had won one and placed in five of her previous 13 starts but has made every post a winner in the new year, and her connections are hoping she can continue her purple patch of form on Saturday.
“She is doing everything right, we are quite happy,” Peter Williams said.
“It is not the ideal race for her, but she has got to have a run somewhere, so it might as well be Ellerslie. There are a couple of good races at the Auckland Cup meeting that will suit her, so it will be good to give her a look at the track.”
Williams is also looking forward to Just A Floozie having her second run at Ellerslie, having run fourth first-up behind Crocetti in the Almanzor Trophy last start.
“She was a little bit fresh that day, she hadn’t raced in nearly 12 months and only had one trial,” he said.
“She just had a few little issues, nothing major, and we just had to wait for her. She will benefit from it in the finish.
“We are happy with her, and we’ll just play it by ear with her after Saturday.”
Sarah Green and Ger Beemsterboer’s Barneswood Farm colours have been to the fore in recent times, particularly with their Group 1 winner Desert Lightning, and they are hoping their run of luck continues with their two runners at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Their orange and white silks will be carried by Group 1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) aspirant Arabian Songbird in the Auckland Co-op Taxis 2100m, while two-year-old filly Foreverintime will make her debut in the Barfoot & Thompson 1100.
“Arabian Songbird went down to Taranaki and got a wet track and didn’t like it one bit,” Williams said.
“We plan to try and get to the Oaks with her, so we will give her a run on Saturday and see what happens.
“Foreverintime has had two or three trials and she goes alright, she is quite a nice filly. She is probably going to be a better three-year-old, but she has done everything right, we quite like her.”
The Barneswood Farm colours will also make an appearance in-between races on Saturday, with Desert Lightning set to have an exhibition gallop ahead of next Saturday’s Group 1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m).
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