One Dream One Soul provided her Napier owner Shirin Wood with the ultimate dream result when she produced a scintillating finishing burst to win an A$80,000 race at last Saturday’s premier Moonee Valley race meeting in Melbourne.
The six-year-old, previously trained at Hastings by Wood’s partner Lee Somervell, was having her second Australian start and produced an outstanding last-to-first performance to win a Rating 74 race over 1600m.
Making the win even more special was that both Wood and Somervell were on course to witness the success, soaking up the incredible atmosphere and enjoying all the tremendous after race celebrations.
“I’ve still got my head in the clouds,” a delighted Shirin Wood said when contacted earlier this week.
“It is the first horse I’ve raced in Australia and I couldn’t have dreamed that I’d be winning a race at such a big meeting. It’s just incredible.”
Wood bred One Dream One Soul with her late husband Kevin and their son Calvin and she now races the mare on a 50-50 basis with Zoe Leek, who is the daughter of the horse’s Pakenham-based trainer Andrea Leek.
One Dream One Soul won four of her 33 starts in New Zealand, when prepared by Somervell, before she was relocated to Victoria in November last year.
The mare did not get off to a great start in her new environment, with a strained muscle and other problems resulting in her having to be turned out for a lengthy spell.
Leek has given her a long slow build-up since she returned and it is now starting to reap rewards.
The daughter of Ekraar finished a close fourth in her Australian debut over 1400m at Sandown on August 21 yet was overlooked by the punters last Saturday, returning $30 odds.
Patiently ridden by Thomas Stockdale, One Dream One Soul sat at the tail of the 10-horse field for most of the race before swooping widest of all around the home turn. She quickened brilliantly in the straight, powering down the outside of the track to snatch a half-head victory on the line.
“I thought she was over the odds,” Stockdale said. “She ran a super race last start.
“We got a track into the race today and we were able to give her the room. Because she’d spent no tickets early in the race, she had plenty left for the straight. It was a super effort by Andrea to present the horse in the way she has and get the win.
“I think she’ll be able to go to 2000m now and be ultra-competitive in a better race.”
One Dream One Soul has now had 35 starts for five wins, seven placings and A$152,431 in stakes. She collected black type with a second placing in the Group 2 Lowland Stakes (2100m) at Hastings as a three-year-old.
The mare is likely to have her next start either over 1800m at Sandown on September 28 or over 1800m at Pakenham on October 11 with the Group 2 A$300,000 Matriarch Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on November 9 the main goal at this stage.
One Dream One Soul is by Ekraar out of the now deceased Towkay mare Sheeza Kinda Magic. She is a full-sister to One Prize One Goal, who won five races when trained by Lee Somervell, and is also a half-sister to the four-race winner Jacob Gambino.
Bargain buy makes winning debut
Evelyn Rush, a $500 buy from the Gavelhouse auction site, provided an instant return for Hastings owner Pam Holden when making a winning debut at Matamata on Wednesday of last week.
The four-year-old Derryn mare followed up a trial win and two trial placings with a dominant 1-1/2 length victory in an $18,000 maiden 1200m event.
Ridden by Craig Grylls, Evelyn Rush began quickly and secured a perfect trail behind the leader until the home turn. She then capitalised on a rail-hugging run in the straight and raced clear over the final stages.
“The plan was to trail and she got there easily,” Grylls said.
“The leader was racing off the fence the whole way and so I was able to sneak through on its inside and she kicked away really good.”
Evelyn Rush is prepared at Matamata by Cody Cole and is one of two horses Holden has in work with the trainer, the other being by Reliable Man out of a Starcraft mare.
Cole was pleasantly surprised by Evelyn Rush’s debut performance, saying he thought she may have needed the first up run.
He now intends running her in the $65,000 Special Conditions Maiden over 1300m on the second day of the Colliers Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, on September 28.
Holden said she bought Evelyn Rush as a yearling and was drawn to her because she is closely related to the Wellington Cup runner-up Emerald and her great-grandam was the multiple Group race winner Jennifer Rush.
Evelyn Rush’s dam is the now deceased Ishiguru mare Peace, who was a daughter of Emerald and won two races.
Holden, a former trainer who prepared the Swiss Ace mare No Time To Jazz to win three races in the 2021-22 racing season, said she has had to play the patient game with Evelyn Rush.
“I bought her as a yearling and turned her out for 12 months,” she said.
“I then broke her in and gave her one preparation and then she went up to Cody at Matamata.”
She won an 800m trial at Pukekohe at the beginning of April and finished third in another one over 850m at Te Awamutu that month before being put aside again.
Her win last week came after she finished third in another 800m trial at Avondale on August 13.
Imperatriz named Horse Of The Year
As expected outstanding sprinter Imperatriz was named Horse Of The Year at the New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing Awards function, held in Hamilton last Sunday.
The Matamata-trained mare also took out the sprinter-miler category, with her six wins coming at 1200m or less.
Imperatriz made an irrefutable case to be named Horse of the Year with an almost perfect Australian campaign, her eight starts producing six wins, including five at Group One level, and two minor placings.
The I Am Invincible mare, who is now retired, cost A$360,000 as a yearling and earned $6.7 million in stakes in the 2023-24 season, taking her career earnings to $7.5 million. She had a career record of 19 wins from 27 starts, including 10 Group One wins, and only once finished further back than fourth.
Female gallopers dominated the awards with Orchestral named both champion three-year-old and champion stayer, Velocious earned the two-year-old title and Legarto topped the voting in the middle-distance category.
The only male horse to triumph was West Coast, who is the jumper of the year.
Warren Kennedy was named Jockey of the Year, after just his second season in New Zealand. The former South African premiership winner made the brave decision to move to New Zealand in his 40s and has been quick to make an impact, topping the premiership in the 2023-24 season.
Voting for the leading jumps jockey produced the smallest margin, with Portia Matthews edging Shaun Fannin by three votes.
Imperatriz’s trainers, Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson, were voted trainer of the year and Waikato couple Denise Bassett and John Elstob, who had a quarter share in Imperatriz, topped an eclectic group of finalists for owner of the year.
Elstob and Bassett have been significant investors in Te Akau Racing syndicates and had 45 individual runners during the season. While Imperatriz was their main flagbearer, they were also part-owners of a second Group 1 winner, in Move To Strike, and the Group 2 winners Captured By Love and Ascend The Throne.
The husband-and-wife training partnership of Peter and Dawn Williams, who retired from training in June, were rewarded for decades of excellence with the award for an outstanding contribution to racing.
Peter began his training career in 1975 and Dawn, who went on to become the first woman to train 1000 winners in New Zealand, joined the partnership in the early 1980s.
They were based in Canterbury for the bulk of their careers but moved north, to Byerley Park, in 2011. They never had a large team but were rarely without a headlining racetrack performer.
The 1988 Auckland Cup winner Sea Swift was their first major winner and was followed by top sprinter Loader, who completed the Railway-Telegraph double in 1996.
More recent winners at the top level included the classic-winning fillies Planet Rock and Media Sensation, dual Group 1 winner Shuka and their latest star, Desert Lightning, who is now racing in Australia.
The voting results were:
Champion Middle Distance Horse (1601m-2200m): Legarto (33). Other finalists: Campionessa (20), El Vencedor (2), Ladies Man.
Champion Stayer (2201m & further): Orchestral (31). Other finalists: Mahrajaan (24), Mary Louise (1), Asterix, Mark Twain.
Champion Jumper: West Coast (46). Other finalists: The Cossack (7), Berry The Cash (3), Nedwin.
Jockey of the Year: Warren Kennedy (34) Other finalists: Opie Bosson (15), Michael McNab (1), Sam Spratt (1), Joe Doyle, Craig Grylls.
Jumps Jockey of the Year: Portia Matthews (29). Other finalists: Shaun Fannin (26), Hamish McNeill.
Trainer of the Year: Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson partnership (49). Other finalist: Robbie Patterson (5).
Owner of the Year: Denise Bassett and John Elstob (17), Brendan & Jo Lindsay (12), Daniel Nakhle (7).
NZ Stablehand of the Year: Joanne Pearson (employed by Lisa Latta, Awapuni Central). Other finalists: Jonathon Richardson (Northern), Lexi Porteous (Southern).
NZTR Award for Outstanding Contribution to Racing: Dawn and Peter Williams.
NZTR Award for Outstanding Global Achievement: Imperatriz
SENZ Horse of the Year: Imperatriz (41) Also: Orchestral (9), Legarto (1).