Finnegan hopes lightning strikes twice

[Wandering Eyes]

Samantha and Francis Finnegan followed a successful pattern when going to $125,000 to purchase a sharp filly by Written By at the Summer Sale at Karaka on Thursday.

Awapuni conditioner Samantha Finnegan picked up her first winner as a trainer when Written By filly Bona Sforza swept home on debut to take out the Listed Welcome Stakes (1000m) at Riccarton and she also finished fourth in the Gr.1 1000 Guineas (1600m) behind star filly Well Written.

Bona Sforza was a $150,000 Karaka yearling purchase and the Finnegans went to $125,000 to purchase Hallmark Stud’s filly by the same sire as Lot 954.

Lot 954 – Written By – Glowing Trait Filly Photo: Trish Dunell

The filly is out of the More Than Ready mare Glowing Trait who has now had three foals to race, all winners, including Written Glow, a debut winner for Cody Cole and subsequently sold to the Hayes family’s Lindsay Park.

“She was just a smashing filly,” Francis Finnegan said.

“On type, she was as good as you could get in any of the books. And when a dam’s three from three and they’re all closely related, it’s a bit easier.

“I suppose when a full sibling’s winning, it’s always a help. And it’s gone to Lindsay Park in Australia, so there’s a chance of an Australian black type update for this filly too.

“She vetted well and we have a good one by the stallion, so you tend to go where you’ve found success before.

“We had Tuesday gallops, so we weren’t really able to get away. So it suited us that this filly was later in the catalogue, as we could only get up for the summer sale.”

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