Four Win Saturday - Lady of Court Rules

Well placed by trainers Mark Walker & Sam Bergerson, Lady Of Court (3 f Savabeel – Are There Any, by Exceed And Excel) won the $25,000 Alistair Gray Memorial Maiden 1400 metres on Saturday at Riccarton.

Having done very well for fourth off a wide trip, after drawing outside (12), in the Maiden 1200 metres on 24 January at Matamata, Lady Of Court travelled south to the Te Akau stables at Riccarton, and immediately put her foot in the till.

A half-sister to eight-time winning sprinter Challa (Dissident), bought as a yearling by David Ellis CNZM at Karaka, Lady Of Court was also purchased as a yearling by Ellis from the Book 1 Sale at Karaka, draft of Trelawney Stud, and she too is now a winner at Riccarton, where stakes' placed Challa raced so well.

Owned by Te Akau 2022 Fillies Breeding Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), Lady Of Court had impressed Ellis as one of the nicest Savabeel fillies in the sale, on the back of former stable-mate and dual Horse of the Year Probabeel (Savabeel) winning four Group One races in Australia.

At the time, Ellis said: “She’s athletic, well balanced, and moves really well. 

“We trained Challa, a genuine racehorse with plenty of speed and courage, and the mare also had a winner in Hong Kong since the catalogue went to print.

“We thought she was a really nice style of filly, a later foal, but she had plenty of class about her and Trelawney Stud has such a great record of breeding good tough racehorses.”

Lady Of Court carries a cross of immortal sire Northern Dancer, while Are There Any has a Danzig cross. 

Competently handled by Te Akau apprentice Niranjan Parmar, Lady Of Court travelled in midfield, circled free of interference rounding the home turn, and she sustained a big run before posing late for the photo as a clear winner. 

On Soft5 footing, Lady Of Court ran 1400 metres in a polished 1:22.7 and returned $3.70 & $1.70 on the NZ TAB tote.

“She’d been knocking on the door and it was a really good winning run,” Walker said.

“She’s slowly learning to relax better in her races and we’ll give her the opportunity of competing in a stakes race of March 2nd at Wingatui.”

The race in mind is the $80,000 NZB Airfreight Stakes (Listed, 1400m) on Saturday 2 March at Wingatui.

“Trelawney are great breeders, we’ve had a lot of luck buying horses from their drafts and I think Lady Of Court will keep getting better with age,” Walker added. 

Lady Of Court was strapped by Ashlyn Lee. 

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz