Spirit of Galway Goes Back to Back

Date: 20 Jan 2020

Spirit of Galway Goes Back to Back







Continuing on from a terrific weekend, Spirit of Galway (4 m Rip Van Winkle - Galway, by Savabeel) registered back-to-back wins in the $10,000 El Cheapo Cars Rating 65 1400 metres on 20 January at Otaki.





After three-year-old filly
Festivity (I Am Invincible) made to two from two and Avantage (Fastnet Rock)
recorded her second Group One win in the Telegraph (1200m) on Wellington Cup
Day at Trentham, Spirit of Galway kept the march going for premiership leading
trainer Jamie Richards who has prepared 36 winners in seven weeks at a strike
rate of 3.4 - quite incredible.





Purchased by David Ellis for
$100,000 at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, bred and
prepared by Christopher Grace QSM and Susanna Grace (Surrey Farm), for owners
in the Te Akau Galway Girl Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), Spirit of
Galway had staged an
unbelievable performance to win the Pearl Series Maiden 1400 metres on 1
January at Hastings, and aided again by a genuine tempo when coming from off
the pace.





Ridden by Ryan Elliot, who replaced Te Akau apprentice Chelsea Burdan who was sidelined with an injury last Friday at Tauranga, Spirit of Galway was urged along last of 10 runners before finding the bridle at the 600m and angled clear entering the straight she sustained her sprint to grab honours on the line.





It was both a good ride and
performance by a mare that before winning had been consistent recording two
seconds, four thirds, and a fourth from eight starts.





Rightly supported, on the
strength of her record and confidence boosting last start victory, Spirit of
Galway paid $3.90 & $1.60 on the NZ TAB tote after running the 1400 metres
in 1:23.0 on footing upgraded to Good3 after race one.





“Sometimes when horses take a wee
while to win their Maiden they can go bang-bang and, obviously, riding her back
in the field and getting her finish off is the trick,” Richards said.





“I thought Ryan Elliot rode her
well. We'll just play around and try getting her further through the grades,
rather than get too ambitious at the moment. She's not very big, but all heart,
with a nice pedigree, and she's stronger this time in after a good spell at Te
Akau Stud.





“She's another one that Dave
(Ellis) bought off Christopher Grace and we've had a fair bit of success with
horses from the family. It's a great line, bred to our Champion sire Savabeel
and the more wins she gets the more valuable she'll become.





“We train her out of the sand
yards and she's a bit picky in the feed bin, but the team has got her sorted
out now and it's showing in her appetite for racing.”





The first foal from a mare that
showed talent to win twice over 1600 metres, from limited starts, she is from a
family that has provided Te Akau with plenty of success, including her
three-quarter sisters: dual Group One winner Shillelagh (Savabeel) and stakes
winning sister Grazia (Savabeel).





Spirit of Galway was strapped by Ashley Handley, who took both the mare and a resuming Beau Geste (Pour Moi) to the same race at Otaki.










Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz


Back

Sign up to our newsletter