Waihaha Falls stars in Randwick runaway

[Wandering Eyes]

Exciting New Zealand-bred gelding Waihaha Falls (NZ) (Sacred Falls) produced one of the most impressive performances in Australasia on Saturday, outclassing his opposition by almost five lengths in the A$150,000 Bowermans Handicap (1200m) at Randwick.

Trained by John O’Shea for owner-breeders Waikato Stud and Guy and Bridget Lowry, the Sacred Falls gelding headed into Saturday’s race as a smart winner of three of his eight career starts, most recently a three-length romp at Randwick on June 11 – his first start since January.

Saturday proved to be more of the same second-up, with Waihaha Falls living up to his $1.70 favouritism with a spectacular performance.

The four-year-old was patiently ridden by apprentice jockey Reece Jones, settling well back before beginning to advance purposefully out of the pack as the field approached the home turn.

Jones released the brakes in the straight and the race was all over. Waihaha Falls bounded clear to score by four and three-quarter lengths.

“He won that really impressively,” Jones said. “I had to go to Plan B and settle one pair further back than I thought, but then I let him cruise around them and he’s put them to the sword. He’s a horse going places.”

From nine starts, Waihaha Falls has now picked up four wins, a placing and A$255,300 in stakes, with the promise of much more still to come.

“The horse is flying, and I don’t think he got out of second gear today,” O’Shea stable representative Alex Maher said. “Onwards and upwards from here, hopefully.”

Waihaha Falls is by Sacred Falls out of the Scaredee Cat mare Mink (NZ), who herself was a winner from Lowry’s Hastings stable. She later crossed the Tasman to join O’Shea, for whom she collected another two wins and also finished fourth in the Listed Civic Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill in 2012.

Mink is the dam of two winners from three foals to race, with Waihaha Falls’ half-brother Golden Key (NZ) (Pins) a five-time winner in Australia and Macau.

Waihaha Falls was one of two impressive metropolitan winners in Australia on Saturday for former Waikato Stud stallion Sacred Falls, whose three-year-old son Duke Of Hastings (NZ) scored over 2000m at Caulfield.

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