Cassini wins Wanganui Cup

28th Nov 2011

Well-performed mare Cassini (Reset) looks set for a hot summer campaign with a number of prestige staying features on the Awapuni mare’s future programme.

The six-year-old showed she was in in fine fettle for important upcoming assignments when she accounted for a strong line-up in Saturday’s Listed Wanganui Cup.

Cassini had been unplaced in her first two outings this preparation at Hastings and in the Group Two Coupland’s Bakeries Mile at Riccarton but trainer Mark Oulaghan said rain-affected going had tripped her up.

“She’s got plenty of ability and she’s just needed a firm track to be competitive.”

Ridden by Lisa Allpress, Cassini followed the pace along the fence on Saturday and, when the field fanned out into the straight, she drove through to score by half a length.

“She’ll probably go the Manawatu Cup next and then maybe the City of Auckland Cup,” Oulaghan said. “She’s not in the Auckland Cup and we tried that earlier this year but she’s not a two-mile (3200m) horse. She’s in the Wellington Cup and she can get out to 2400 metres.”

Cassini finished runner-up in both the Group Three Manawatu Cup and the Group Two City of Auckland Cup last season and also has placings in the Group Two Royal Stakes, Group Three Thompson Handicap, Group Three Taranaki Cup and the Listed Marton Cup to her credit.

She is raced by Opunake identity Gail Drought who purchased the mare out of Lyndhurst Farm’s 2007 NZB Premier Sale draft to Karaka for NZ$120,000. Bred by D. Dean, she is out of Mathematical (NZ) (Honor Grades) who is a daughter of the Group One Western Australian Oaks winner True Devotion (Beau Sovereign) and in turn the dam of the Group Two Sir Tristram Fillies’ Classic winner Centrofold (NZ) (Centro).

Cassini is also a half-sister to the promising Cambridge filly Prestigious Miss (Written Tycoon). A winner at two for Roger James, she has fared well against the best of her age this term with placings in the Group Two Hawke’s Bay Guineas and the Group Three Gold Trail Stakes.

Runner-up to Cassini at the weekend was the reigning Group Two Wellington Cup champion Spiro (NZ) (Pyrus) who was brave in defeat. He was jumping in distance from a sprint lead-up and gave the winner five and a-half kilos.

The veteran Manonamission (NZ) (Kilimanjaro) showed there was life aplenty in his 10-year-old legs with a stout finishing run to claim third money ahead of the enigmatic Doctor Fremantle (Sadler’s Wells).

His early European performances were impressive with wins in the Group Two Princess of Wales’s Stakes, the Group Three Newbury Arc Trial, Huxley Stakes and Chester Vase and he was also fourth in both the Group One Epsom Derby and the Group One Grand Prix de Paris.

However, he failed to show anything like his best form in Australia for Lee Freedman and in three starts for Murray and Bjorn Baker his best effort was a sixth placing in the Group Three Trentham Stakes.

His much-improved Wanganui performance came at his second appearance since joining the Cambridge stable of Lauren Brennan.