By Mac Henry
Motukarara trainer Stephen McNally bypassed races on his own patch to make a hit and run strike on the Wairio meeting at Winton on Tuesday.
His sole runner was the three year old filly Scarlet Falcon who arrived unbeaten and left with the same unblemished record after winning the Southland Vehicle Sales Mobile Mile in a smart 1:56.6, last half in 57.7.
“I came down to qualify her for the Southland Oaks and see how she measured up,” McNally said. “She showed enough to come back.”
To qualify for the group two Oaks on 17 April, a filly must race at least twice in the current season on a track or tracks in Southland or Central Otago.
Scarlet Falcon by Elsu is raced by Kevin Gloag and Cederic Coll. Her dam Genuine Franco was trained at Geraldine by Doug Gillespie and the winner of three. McNally is pleased with what Scarlet Falcon has achieved to date but loathe to get carried away.
“She has done everything right but it is early days yet,” he said.
Nathan Williamson drove the day’s two trotting winners and took the feature pace as well. Dark Horse, a filly he trains himself, won the C0 Merv N Milly Trot on debut. He trains her for a couple of syndicates and said he got her because number of their members were based in Southland.
“I was pleased that she trotted all the way,” Williamson said.
The half sister to Carla Bruni, Sarah Palin, Monty Python and Father Christmas is one of seven New Zealand winners by Bacardi Lindy.
Williamson’s second trotting winner was Jen Jaccka, continuing the success of owners/breeders Charlie and Ailsa Smaill and trainer Brett Gray. They combined at Gore two days earlier when Odette Jaccka ran a female’s track record 2:41.3 and won by five and a quarter lengths.
Jen Jaccka provided the 39th win for the progeny of Janine Jaccka who gets her chance to reach 40 when Jaccka Jack has his first start for Gray at the Central Otago fixture on Sunday. Jaccka Jack is the winner of 14 races, 12 for Gray’s late father Murray and two for Charlie Smaill. He finished second in the Omakau feature in 2012 when trained by Gray, beaten by full sister Jaccka Justy trained by Smaill.
“He was a bit pretty and training him in a bigger team Brett might be able to lift him,” Smaill said.
Williamson’s third win was on Costa Del Magnifico in the $12,000 Otautau Four Square Supermarket Wairio Cup. In his previous three starts the attractive black got home by 11 and half lengths from behind the mobile in a C1 at Invercargill, by three and a half lengths from a stand in a C1 at Addington, and by six lengths in the stand-start 3200 metre Winton Cup, cut out last week in 3:59.8. Costa Del Magnifico looked the standout and so it proved.
“I didn’t even pull the ear-plugs, he was doing enough,” Williamson said.
Allan Beck landed a driving double scoring first on Knockmanaugh and later on Rahuri Badlands. Bettor Ops, trained and driven by Kirk Larsen, was a winner on debut. He is out of Special Ops, fourth in the 2008 New Zealand Cup. Her only other foal, the winner The Charging Moa is by Changeover, winner of the 2008 Cup.
On a day when 10 of the 11 winners were three or four year olds, five year old Macy Blue Chip broke the trend. She provided junior driver Maruia Parker with her first win for the season. In March she’d carried Parker to her first win last season and first ever win.
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