Ocean Park gelding Star of the Seas ( x Stella Livia) made light work of his opposition at Warwick Farm on Wednesday when he distanced them to win by two and a half lengths in the #Theraces handicap (1200m).
The Chris Waller-trained three-quarter brother to Group One performer Spieth (Thorn Park) secured his first victory in just his third start, having placed in his previous two outings.
It was a great result for breeder’s Trelawney Stud and farm principal Brent Taylor is excited with the potential of other progeny out of the farm’s quality mare Stella Livia.
“I was travelling, so I only heard it on the radio, but it was obviously pretty impressive,” Taylor said.
“He was hot favourite and raced accordingly.
“She’s been a very productive mare for colts. She’s got a couple of nice young horses out there. Travancore, he’s a chance of winning in town again this weekend, while Kris Lees has a very nice Shamexpress colt (Lucky Mission) that we sold to Ron Wanless. He is shaping up really well and can’t be too far away from a run actually.
“She’s done a great job, she has got some very productive runners out there.”
Star of the Seas was initially entered for New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2016 Select Yearling Sale by Trelawney Stud, however a pre-sale x-ray forced their hand to withdraw the colt along with another colt who would go on to win at Group Three level.
“We had two horses going through the sales that same year,” Taylor said. “We did our pre-sales X-rays and they both had cysts in their pasterns.
“Between the vets and ourselves we decided that the market wasn’t going to accept the X-ray issue. One was The Bostonian and the other one was this horse.
“He (Star of the Seas) went through a trial for ourselves and trialled up exceptionally well under the guidance of Te Awamutu trainer Clayton Chipperfield.
“We sold him on the back of that trial through Phill Cataldo, who bought him for Tony Muollo in Sydney, who is a good friend of his.”
Meanwhile, Taylor holds great hopes for Star of the Seas’ sire Ocean Park, who Taylor also bred under his farm’s banner.
“Ocean Park is on the cusp of having a very good year with his older horses as four-year-olds. There are a lot of very promising lightly-tried horses that look like they will get over a trip.
“The likes of Oceans Fourteen won well for us on Saturday and we think he’s a big chance.” -NZ Racing Desk