By Mac Henry
Delightful Memphis posted a New Zealand record 2:55.5 when winning the 2400 metre $14,000 Winton Businesses Cup from a 20 metre handicap on Sunday.
The time took half a second off Adore Me’s previous best set in the 2014 Ashburton Flying Stakes when a five year old mare.
Both Adore Me and Delightful Memphis are daughters of Bettor’s Delight with the Winton winner only a three year old and having her first start from a stand. The Mark Jones-trained filly was driven by Blair Orange who said she handled the stand start really well and he was able to put her in the race early and wait.
Eighth or ninth mostly, Delightful Memphis was asked to improve across the top and quickly landed beside leader Torrid Bromac. She felt then, Orange said, that she had the leader covered and kept up her run right to the line.
At her previous start, Delightful Memphis had won a mobile mile at Winton in 1:51.9. She has now qualified for the $45,000 group two Nevele R/Macca Lodge Southland Oaks at Ascot Park on 30 April and is likely to start a warm favourite.
In winning the day’s feature $20,000 Southern Belle Mares Speed Series final, Break Dance clocked 1:53.3 and along with stablemates King Denny and Ygritte is heading now for Alexandra Park.
A Tuapeka Lodge bred mare, Break Dance is trained at Waikouaiti by Amber Hoffman. A daughter of Art Major and Wave Runner, she started her career with Simon Adlam and broke maidens at a Reefton meeting in March 2015. Hoffman said Break Dance had ongoing lameness issues and early last year she was offered the mare for training on the beach.
It worked for a couple of starts, with a third at Forbury Park and win at Invercargill, but not so good in the third start.
“She sat parked in the race at Winton that Nek Time broke the record and was sore afterwards,” Hoffman said. “We got her x-rayed and she had a big bone chip on a fetlock. Peter Gillespie operated.”
Break Dance resumed with a third at Timaru in November and has been in the top four in all but one start since. Three starts back she won on Wairio Mile Day in 1:55.9 and was second in her next outing, at Ascot Park to Jimmy Mack who paced the mobile 2200 in 2:42.7.
Hoffman was confident that with a perfect run, Break Dance was a chance in the Southern Belle final and was full of praise for the way driver Jonny Cox handles her.
“Jonny has been patient with her, he taught her to settle,” Hoffman said. “She can be a bit hot and is pretty hard to hold in track work, she works on her own.”
Cox said he was a bit worried the draw of two on the second line would prove difficult but he got a good run through and held the one-one early. Real worries though leaving the back straight, by which time he’d been shuffled back to last of the 10 and no one was moving.
“At the 400 Blair (Orange) got rolling, I got on to his back and he kept going forward,” explained Cox who pulled Break Dance out at the 200 and she just exploded. “She’s always had a lot of speed and is good coming from the back.”
Cox said he will be heading north to drive the team and Hoffman hopes they will all travel well enough to be racing this Friday.
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