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The Cox Plate is one of the most coveted prizes in Australasian racing, and while anticipation builds towards the 106th running on Saturday, Matamata horseman Gary Hennessy is reflecting fondly on his former star Ocean Park’s heroics in the weight-for-age feature 14 years ago.
The son of Thorn Park proved to be a horse of a lifetime for the now-retired Hennessy, who operated a boutique stable with strong links to Hong Kong. He came across Ocean Park while searching for a Hong Kong Derby (2000m) prospect at New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2010 National Yearling Sale at Karaka, and while he didn’t head to Asia, he made his mark on this side of the world.
A pedigree buff, Hennessy was first attracted to the colt’s breeding and quickly spotted his dam, Sayyida, who had impressed him on the track.
“I distinctly remember his dam at the Taupo trials. I had a horse come back from Hong Kong that had been a bleeder called Win Okay, and they were in the same trial,” Hennessy said. “She had been placed as a two-year-old and Roger James (trainer) had two people leading her around, so I knew she must have been pretty important. Win Okay actually led all the way and won that trial and she ran second to him.
“We followed her and she won at Matamata and Tauranga, and went out favourite for the Avondale Guineas (Gr.2, 2000m), but unfortunately she broke down in that and they were able to save her.
“When I saw him (Ocean Park), I had previously bought a Thorn Park the year before for Andrew Wong, but this fella looked so much like Zabeel. You could see the damsire coming out in him, whereas the other was a chestnut, like Thorn Park.
“Andrew said to buy a horse and we could race it together. He wanted to win the Hong Kong Derby, which is 2000m. We missed out on a couple in K1, and I always had this guy marked down. I had to convince Andrew that this is the one that I wanted to buy because he wanted to drop the budget. I said I am coming in on him, and I’ll get Steve Yan to come in on him as well. That left me with plenty of buying power to buy him, and I did.”
Hennessy went to $150,000 to secure Ocean Park out of breeder Trelawney Stud’s draft. He proved to be an astute purchase and showed plenty of early promise, winning three of his first four starts, including the Gr.3 Wellington Stakes (1600m).
He was also runner-up in the Gr.2 Great Northern Guineas (1600m) and Gr.3 Waikato Guineas (2000m) before Hennessy elected to test his talent in Australia as an autumn three-year-old. He finished eighth in the Gr.1 Randwick Guineas (1600m) and runner-up in the Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m), and was ridden in the latter by Glen Boss, who would go on to ride him in Melbourne during his spring campaign.
“He only got beaten by two lengths in the Randwick Guineas, and the ground he made up was phenomenal,” Hennessy said. “Craig Williams (jockey) came back full of praise and said he would like to ride the horse again and said he had some toe.
“He went to the Rosehill Guineas and got bowled sideways at the top of the straight, which might have cost him, but the winner got a rails run and we ended up getting pushed about eight wide.”
Hennessy’s phone rang hot following Ocean Park’s Rosehill Guineas performance, but he rebuffed substantial offers and elected to continue to racing the exciting colt himself.
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Hennessy immediately made plans to return to Australia for the Melbourne Spring Carnival, initially eyeing the Gr.1 Caulfield Cup (2400m), however, Ocean Park’s first-up victory in the Gr.1 Makfi Challenge Stakes 1400m) at Hastings changed his trajectory towards the shorter 2040m distance of the Cox Plate.
It proved to be the right choice, with Ocean Park enjoying a faultless preparation, posting victories in both the Gr.1 Underwood Stakes (1800m) and Gr.1 Caulfield Stakes (2000m) before his tilt at the Cox Plate.
“Everything fell into place for us,” Hennessy said. “He won a trial starting off at Te Teko and the way he won at Hastings had us looking at the Cox Plate rather than the Caulfield Cup. The Underwood three weeks later was the natural step up.
“Manighar was the yardstick of the Australian weight-for-age 2000m horses, and he put him away pretty easily in the finish. We had a lot of confidence thereon in, but the Australians let him drift out to quite good odds.
“We had one little hiccup going into the Caulfield Stakes. He missed a gallop and probably wasn’t as convincing as he could have been because he probably needed the race, and that just topped him off nicely.”
The week of the Cox Plate, Hennessy said he was initially disappointed in Ocean Park’s work at Breakfast with the Stars on Tuesday morning after hand timing him, however, his fears were allayed after he saw the data from an E-Trakka, which he was using for the first time.
“He had the gallop with the stars on the Tuesday morning and we put an E-Trakka on him, and we ended up buying one,” Hennessy said. “He galloped that morning and I hand timed him and I thought he hadn’t done enough, but when we went back into the saddling stall and the guy selling the E-Trakkas put it (data) up on the laptop in the stall while he was drying off, and he had come home in 36 and I only had him coming home in 40 on the handheld. I knew then (that he was ready) and just put him in cotton wool, and we ended up going on to the Cox Plate very confident.”
Hennessy’s confidence was vindicated days later when Ocean Park returned victorious after downing smart three-year-olds and subsequent sires All Too Hard and Pierro, who carried eight kilograms less than him.
It was a sentimental victory for Hennessy, who was able to follow in the footsteps of his cousin, Dave O’Sullivan, who won the race in 1991 with Surfers Paradise, and was famously runner-up to Bonecrusher with Our Waverley Star in 1986 following their titanic duel.
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“Dave O’Sullivan is my second cousin and as a kid I grew up with Paul (Dave’s son), who was in the same year as me,” Hennessy said. “Then seeing the Waverley Star and Bonecrusher race, and Surfers Paradise winning it for Dave as well. I was following in his footsteps and to achieve it with a stable of about seven or eight horses was great.”
Ocean Park went on to run third in the Gr.1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on Derby Day, and he and Hennessy received a hero’s welcome when they returned to Matamata.
“The community in Matamata were all behind us and you just didn’t realise what it meant at home,” Hennessy said. “In the end I had sore hands and knuckles after shaking so many hands.”
Hennessy said recognition extended internationally, and he was particularly taken back when he arrived in Hong Kong a month later and was met by Paul O’Sullivan, who was training in the competitive racing jurisdiction at the time.
“When I got up to Hong Kong for the international meeting I ran into Paul, and probably the greatest compliment I have ever had was from Paul,” he said. “He shook my hand and said, ‘Gary, you just don’t know what you have achieved’, knowing how hard it is to get a horse into the race let alone win it. That is something that has always stuck in my mind, coming from someone I had looked up to in Paul.”
Ocean Park would go on to have three more starts, winning the Gr.1 New Zealand Stakes (2000m) before travelling to Dubai, where the curtain came down on his career after he suffered a tendon injury when 12th in the Gr.1 Dubai Duty Free (1800m) at Meydan.
On their way back to New Zealand, Ocean Park had to quarantine for a month in England. During that time, Hennessy gained a greater appreciation of the Cox Plate’s international standing through the hospitality extended to him as a winning trainer while he explored the United Kingdom and Ireland.
“I met Jim Bolger while we were there at Leopardstown and I met Aidan O’Brien in the birdcage and he probably stood there for 10 minutes talking with me,” Hennessy said. “Once they know you have trained a Cox Plate winner, they give you that sort of respect.”
During his time in Europe, Hennessy also struck a deal to sell Ocean Park to leading New Zealand Thoroughbred nursery Waikato Stud, where he commenced stud duties later that year.
“They (Waikato Stud) always had a bit of interest in him because Katie Hercock (who worked for Waikato Stud as a pre-trainer) was my track rider and they allowed Katie to come with me to Dubai,” Hennessy said. “We did the deal over 24 hours.”
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Ocean Park has proven himself at stud, producing 27 individual stakes winners to date, and five individual Group One winners, including Tofane, Kolding, Kovalica, Ocean Billy, and the late Ohope Wins, who won both the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) last season.
Ocean Park is standing at Waikato Stud again this season for a service fee of $15,000+GST.
Hennessy has continued to support Ocean Park at stud, and he has had plenty of success breeding to his former star.
“We ended up buying a group of mares from Australia, which we supported him with,” he said. “We sold his highest-priced yearling in his first crop and bred his first winner, Beerzatbernz.”
Photo: Race Images
While Hennessy didn’t reach the same lofty heights with Ocean Park’s stable successors, he still had plenty of fun with Ocean Emperor, who he trained to three Group Two victories, campaigned in Singapore, and now stands at stud at his Matamata farm, Weowna Park.
“He is my best friend. He is such a lovely and quiet horse,” Hennessy said. “The big thing about him is that he is just so kind. I can go out there and trim him up on my own and he never bites or anything.”
Hennessy has scaled back his involvement in the industry over the last couple of years, selling his racing stables to Daniel Miller, as well as dispersing the majority of his mares. However, he still enjoys breeding from a couple of mares each season and he is enjoying a quieter life at Weowna Park.
“When I got crook, I wasn’t too interested in breeding at all, I just wasn’t able to do that physical type of work, so we have scaled right back,” he said. “I have just got two (mares) in-foal. I sold all my in-foal mares last year, which included Spirit Of Karlu, who is the dam of Mystic Park. I have got two maiden mares that are a half (sisters) to Brutal.
“I sold my racing stables, a 20-acre property, and I am glad Dan (Miller) has got it because it was set up for training and pre-training. We had all the bells and whistles. There is a high-speed walker, high-speed treadmill, we had our own 800m track and 20-odd boxes. I said to him that if you keep to those sort of numbers, you can do the job properly.
“We have Weowna Park, which is 50 acres, just two kilometres down the road, and it is back 1000m off the road, so it is just so tranquil. We nearly touch on the back of Blandford Lodge and over the river we have got Paul Pertab. It is a lovely, quiet, tranquil place.
“We have got a new home out here, the campervan and I am trying to go white baiting and things like that. I have got some pedigree Poll Dorset sheep that I am breeding, and I have still got about 70-head of cattle that I have reared from calves and taken through. It keeps me busy and keeps me active.”
While Hennessy has had plenty of luck buying out of the sales, he is hoping to sell some future stars at Karaka in January where he will offer two yearlings through the draft of Woburn Farm.
“I have got two yearling colts that will go off to Woburn Farm this week to get prepared for the sales,” he said. “They are getting a bit frisky for me to be playing around with.
“I have got a lovely colt by Wrote out of Je Suis Tiger. He is bred on a very similar cross to Fast Network, who is a really top sprinter up in in Hong Kong.
“The other guy is by Ocean Emperor and out of a Group Three placed Danehill Dancer mare of Lady Tavistock’s called Dancing Attendance. She is a half to Precedence, who won two Moonee Valley Gold Cups (Gr.2, 2500m) for Bart Cummings, Lady Tavistock, Sir Patrick Hogan and Dato Tan (Chin Nam). He looks that type of horse and I think he can make a nice three-year-old. He’ll definitely be a 2000m horse, and with an ounce of luck he might be a Cox Plate type horse.”
Hennessy has great interest in this weekend’s Cox Plate, which will take place at its temporary home of Flemington, and he said he will be cheering home the Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young-trained Blind Raise and Bjorn Baker-trained Warwoven.
“We will be watching the Cox Plate with a lot of interest this year with Bjorn and Trent who have got some Kiwi-breds in there,” he said. “Even though they train in Australia they still look upon themselves as Kiwis, so we will cheering for those two boys. They look pretty smart three-year-olds.”
