Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Promising staying filly Ohope Wins (Ocean Park) chose the best possible moment to break her maiden status when she powered home to take out the Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie.
The Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott-prepared daughter of Waikato Stud stallion Ocean Park had caught the eye when powering home late to finish second over 1600m at Te Rapa a fortnight ago and was one of the most discussed candidates in the lead-up to the traditional New Year’s Day age-group feature.
Team Wexford entrusted the in-form Joe Doyle with the ride and he rewarded that faith with a gem as he allowed his mount plenty of time to find her feet in a strung-out field headed up by pacemakers Origin Of Love and Singe.
Ohope Wins began to creep into the race approaching the home bend with Doyle taking her to the outside of the track where she began to go through her gears. Several huge bounds took her to the lead at the 100m and she simply ran away to score by more than a length from the gallant Origin Of Love and her fast-finishing stablemate Born To Be Royal.
Doyle was suitably impressed by the performance from a filly who has plenty ahead of her.
“She is special as we were a long way back and had a lot of ground to make up,” Doyle said.
“She is really laid back and when I started to give her a hard squeeze she came up underneath me and has won quite cosily in the end.
“I just think she has Oaks (Gr.1, 2400m) written all over her as she will be majorly competitive.”
O’Sullivan shares that opinion of the filly, who is nominated for the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) which will be run at Ellerslie this year on 21 February.
“Andrew and I have always believed in this filly and that was why we were lining her up today in a Group Two as a maiden,” he said.
“Hopefully she will be running in the Oaks or the Derby, or races like that in the future.
“The best way to describe her is that she is a pet. She has a temperament where she doesn’t waiver with anything and that will hold her in good stead moving forward.
“We won’t make any plans today but come Monday morning Andrew and I will work out a programme for her.
“We had said to Joe to just ride her as you find her as with races like these you know half of the field are not going to stay as they are having their first crack at the distance.
“We were hoping he could come to the outside and get some clear air and he summed it up nicely, it was a great ride.
“We have always thought she was a stayer from day dot and nothing has changed that opinion.”
Bred and raced by Bill Gartshore and his family under their Gartshore Bloodstock banner, Ohope Wins is out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Choux Mania who is a half-sister to the 2010-2011 Horse of the Year Jimmy Choux, who won five Group One races including the 2011 Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) before carving out a successful breeding at Rich Hill Stud.
