Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Val Di Zoldo’s (War Decree) victory in the Gr.2 Travis Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa on Saturday showed what a difference a year can make.
The $150,000 fillies and mares’ feature capped an autumn black-type double for the War Decree mare, who was a last-start winner of the Gr.3 Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes (2050m) at Wanganui on April 5.
It could hardly be a more different story to what happened in those same two races 12 months ago. Val Di Zoldo ran fourth in the 2024 edition of the Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes at Trentham, crossing the finish line 3.6 lengths behind Apostrophe after being completely blocked for most of the straight.
The Travis Stakes was even more of a nightmare. Val Di Zoldo was caught wide without cover in the early part of the race, then jockey Wiremu Pinn lost his left stirrup leather in the straight. She overcame all of that adversity to still finish fourth, beaten by a half-head, a half-head and a head.
A return to Te Rapa for a second shot at the Travis Stakes brought redemption for Val Di Zoldo and Pinn. The pair enjoyed a comfortable run, three back on the rail, as Town Cryer and Our Jumala showed the way up to the home turn.
Pinn angled the five-year-old into the clear at the top of the home straight, and Val Di Zoldo soon warmed into her work. She surged past Town Cryer and Our Jumala with just over 100m to run, then held out a big finish from Islington Lass to win by a neck. Pinn summed up the feelings of all of Val Di Zoldo’s connections with a fist pump after the finish line.
“I think Wiremu will really enjoy that,” trainer Tony Pike said. “He’s ridden her a few times with absolutely no luck. She should have won this race last year. To get the win today is a little bit of payback.
“It was a beautiful ride by Wiremu. He settled three back at the fence and then came off at the right time.”
Val Di Zoldo has now won four of her 31 starts and $325,915 in stakes. She won the Gr.2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) as a three-year-old in March of 2023, but then went winless for more than two years before this month’s Manawatu Breeders’ Stakes and Travis Stakes successes.
“She’s always been a very good mare, and she’s honestly the most unlucky mare I’ve ever trained,” Pike said. “So she really deserves these two stakes wins that she’s put together this autumn. She’s going to be a lovely broodmare later on as well.
“She’d been out of the winners’ circle for two years before that win two weeks ago, but it’s not her fault. She probably should have won three or four races during that period. To get this win today is fantastic for her owners.
“There’s now the possibility of the Rotorua Cup (Listed, 2200m) in a couple of weeks’ time. She ran in that last year and probably didn’t quite see out the 2200m. We’ll have a talk to the owners and make a decision. We might just put her out and then bring her back for the spring.”
Bred by the late Kevin Hickman, Val Di Zoldo is raced by Robert and Kim De Courcy under their Kinsale Bloodstock banner after she was purchased for $285,000 by Bruce Sherwin out of the Valachi Downs Unreserved Young & Racing Stock Dispersal Sale.
