O’Sullivan and Scott seek strong finale

[Wandering Eyes]

Te Rapa has been the scene of plenty of this season’s success for Wexford Stables, and Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott are hoping to bring 2023-24 to a close with more of the same at the Hamilton track on Saturday.

Coming to the end of their 11^th season in partnership, the Matamata trainers have secured a career-best 63 winners this term and sit in third place on the premiership. They have won nine black-type races, and their runners have earned more than $3 million in stakes.

No fewer than 19 of those wins have come at Te Rapa this season, more than 30 percent of their total, including black-type wins by Dragon Leap in the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m), Molly Bloom in the Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2000m) and I’munstoppable in the Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m).

That trend of Te Rapa success dates right back to the season’s first meeting at the course, where O’Sullivan and Scott secured a winning double with Highlighter and Winexpress on August 12.

“We’ve certainly enjoyed a lot of success there this season,” Scott said. “It’s had plenty of racing but has held up to it very well. It’s a beautiful, consistent track and we’ve found that our horses have been able to get a good gallop going there and hit out confidently. It’s a track we’ve enjoyed racing at.

“We couldn’t be more proud of the season that we’ve had overall. Lance, myself and the team have worked very hard for each and every one of those wins. It’s been a massive team effort, and we’ve been very fortunate to have had massive buy-in from a really talented and experienced group of staff. We all win together.”

O’Sullivan and Scott entered nine horses for Te Rapa this weekend, which is the final Saturday meeting of the season. However, that Wexford contingent will be reduced to eight by the scratching of Juju Pop – a highly talented daughter of Castledale that has been off the scene since April 2023.

“She’s had quite a long lay-off, and after her gallop this week we just felt she might need a bit more work,” Scott said. “So the plan is to trial her again on August 6. We’re looking forward to getting her back to the races once she’s ready.”

Saturday’s $35,000 Stewart Browne Memorial (1200m) features Winexpress, who showed bright promise early in his career with fifth placings in the 2022 editions of the Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) and Wanganui Guineas (1340m). He has rediscovered some of that form as a four-year-old this season, scoring stylish wins at Te Rapa in August and at Pukekohe in June. The Shamexpress gelding was a highly creditable last-start third at Hastings on July 6.

“He’s been going well,” Scott said. “We thought he ran a very good race against the bias at Hastings last time, and he was a strong winner at Pukekohe before that. He meets a stronger field on Saturday, but he likes Te Rapa and we expect him to acquit himself well.”

I Am Groot will contest the $50,000 Property Brokers & Katie Walker 3YO (1400m). The son of Wrote was a maiden winner over this distance in late March, and he has followed that with a third over 1560m, a fifth over 1600m, a third over 1750m and a last-start fifth over 1300m.

“That last start run was at Tauranga, where horses that were close to the lead and along the rail were very hard to beat,” Scott said. “We might have got it wrong with our decision to ride him a fraction conservatively.

“He should be better placed on Saturday on a track that we think will suit him. He’ll parade looking as good as anything all day – his coat is amazing at the moment. We see him as a strong top-three chance.”

Scott also likes the chances of a pair of talented maiden gallopers – Ever Charm in the New World Taumarunui Mile (1600m) and Reptak in the opening race on the card, the Chief Stipe Morris (1200m).

“Ever Charm certainly deserves to win one,” Scott said. “He’s just taken a while to learn to relax and to get his confidence up. But he was hitting the line strongly last time. From a better draw this weekend, he might be more prominently placed in the running. He’s a fit horse in good form and should be competitive again.

“Reptak’s going really well. We always thought he’d make a good winter sprinter. He was another one from that Tauranga day, where you really had to be close to the rail and the lead. He was a long way off the fence and still kept up a strong gallop.

“He’s really benefited from his recent racing. Now that he’s educated and fit, he should be hard to beat. We think he can start the day off well for us.”

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