Bred in Ireland, progressive mare Wakanaka was a Group III winner in Italy before heading to North America to be trained by Bill Mott and she scored her first major win there when taking out the Group II Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday.
Raced by Team Valor International and Gary Barber, Wakanaka had been working up to a win with several Group placings this year and got the job done when forging clear to win the 1 and 1/16th m turf contest by nearly two lengths.
Four year-old Wakanaka has an impressive record with seven wins and five placings from 13 starts.
She is from winning Kodiac mare storyline, who comes from the family of Group III winner Whitbarrow.
Wakanaka is one of 24 stakes-winners worldwide for proven Group I sire Power (GB), who now calls Oaklands Stud in Queensland home after starting his career as a Coolmore shuttle sire to Cambridge Stud in New Zealand.
A son of Oasis Dream, Power has had stakes-winners over all distances with his Group I winners Laws of Indices, Helvic Dream and Sonnyboyliston scoring their elite wins from 1400m to 2800m.
Power runs at 5% stakes-winners to runners which is more than comparable to Queensland’s leading sires and stands this spring at a fee of $13,200.
