Hollie Wynyard has a pair of Trentham features in sight for her talented fillies This Time Girl and Archaic Smile after top performances across the North Island over the weekend.
Wynyard’s immediate focus on Saturday was at Ellerslie, where her promising stayer This Time Girl was among the key chances in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (2100m), and put in a game runner-up performance behind race-favourite and eventual winner Island Life.
The $1 million Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) has always been at the forefront of Wynyard’s mind with her filly, and she couldn’t have been happier with This Time Girl’s dress rehearsal.
“It was a really good Oaks trial, the whole season we’ve been taking her back and teaching her to settle and the 2400m of the Oaks has always been our goal,” she said.
“She’s bred to do it, she’s out of a mare that won over 2100m, and I think Phill Cataldo (bloodstock agent) only paid $10,000 for her as a yearling, so she was a pretty outstanding purchase really.
“We don’t have to do too much with her, she’s a natural stayer. She had five weeks between runs and still ran out the 2100m really well, I’ve just got to get her there happy and healthy and she’ll do the rest.”
In a TAB Futures market dominated by Leica Lucy, This Time Girl is the current fourth favourite at $16 for the feature run on March 22.
At the same meeting, stablemate Archaic Smile will return to black-type company after an impressive victory further down the North Island at New Plymouth on Saturday.
A Group One performer at two, Archaic Smile entered Wynyard’s care late last year and hadn’t been far away in each of the Gr.3 Almanzor Trophy (1200m) and Listed Uncle Remus Stakes (1200m), without producing what the Cambridge horsewoman knew she was capable of.
The filly started second favourite in the open three-year-old contest and jumped fairly before finding the perfect trail behind the pacemaker When Stars Align. Her jockey Kavish Chowdhoory desperately needed a gap in the straight, and when it came, Archaic Smile raced through and put away the field with ease at the line.
“She was really good, she’s a filly that obviously has a fair bit of ability being Group One placed as a two-year-old,” Wynyard said. “It was just trying to find that form again and she found that on Saturday.
“Going into her Ellerslie runs, we couldn’t fault her, she was galloping up superb and wasn’t quite producing at the races what we were seeing at home. We thought we’d try the blinkers as something a bit different to sharpen her up, and they seemed to work pretty well.”
After such a powerful performance, Wynyard has the confidence to press on to the Gr.2 IRT Wellington Guineas (1400m), run for $250,000 on Oaks Day.
“She’s pulled up really well, she’s quite a gross little filly and eats everything you put in front of her, she seems to bounce through each run quite easily,” she said.
“At this stage, we’re going to head to the Wellington Guineas, she won a stakes race there as a two-year-old and seems to like the track. We’ll go there and have a go at it.”
