Where the big freeze claimed almost all the horse racing events in Ireland and Britain, New Zealand did not disappoint its racing fans on the first day of the weekend. The Group I Captain Cook Stakes that was run over a distance of 1 mile on turf, featured
the champion colt We Can Say It Now. The winner of the event claimed his second victory in a Group I meet over a time period of eight days. Under weight for age conditions, the glamour filly held off her rivals of older age and won the NZ $ 200,000 start at
Trentham.
The winner of the Levin Classic, the superstar filly has been training under the care of trainers Murray and Bjorn Baker at Cambridge. She is owned by Paul and Lyndall Makin, who are also the owners of Arrowfield Stud stallion Starcraft.
Her performance in this particular start was just spectacular. She was the pace setter, with speed rating time of 1 minute and 34.27 seconds at Otaki, when she carried only 51 kg. We Can Say It Now took over the field of 18 contenders and won the event by
four lengths in a time of 1 minute and 34.04 seconds.
In a post race interview, the pleased trainer was reported as saying, “It was an amazing performance. It was big risk to back her up today. Full credit to Paul Makin because if she was beaten today it wouldn’t have been a smart move, but it’s worked out
fantastically well and we’re so happy.”
Baker gave special acknowledgement to the jockey Lisa Allpress, who rode and won her first Grade I event.
Talking to the correspondents about Lisa, Baker said, “It was a super ride. I didn’t think she was that quick out of the gates, but Lisa jumped her out perfectly to find a super position. We’ve been lucky enough to have some good rides this season, and that
was as good as any of them.”
The fancied jockey claimed 100 victories in the last racing season, and this season she proved her talent and potential by winning 55 events so far. On the other hand, We Can Say It Now did not find it hard to distance out all her rivals in this start, starting
off from the fourth position.
Mandela, the winner of the Seymor Cup was the runner-up to the winner, while Obsession, the Group II winner was the third place finisher.
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