An exclusive club has a new member after Ohope Wins powered to victory in the A$1 million Gr.1 Asahi Super Dry Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick on Saturday.
The daughter of Ocean Park became only the fourth filly to complete the New Zealand Oaks-Australian Oaks double, following on from Domino (1990), Bonneval (2017) and Pennyweka (2023).
Ohope Wins stamped herself as a standout talent among New Zealand’s staying three-year-olds during the summer, stringing together successive come-from-behind wins in the Gr.2 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes (2000m), Gr.2 David & Karyn Ellis Fillies’ Classic (2100m) and Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m).
She was bought by Yulong Investments after the first of those wins, and after capping her domestic campaign in the Oaks at Ellerslie in February, she was transferred out of Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott’s Matamata stable to move into the care of Chris Waller for an autumn Sydney campaign.
A distance drop to 2000m and a muddling pace brought Ohope Wins undone when she made her Australian debut in the Gr.1 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill on March 28, and she had to settle for a late-finishing and close fourth. Everything that she had shown in New Zealand suggested that the step back up to 2400m for the Australian Oaks would lift her to another level, and that was exactly what happened in the Randwick classic on Saturday.
Sent out as a warm favourite, Ohope Wins was ridden patiently by champion expat Kiwi jockey James McDonald and settled near the back of the field as longshots Stand My Ground and La Morra showed the way. Ohope Wins was more than a dozen lengths from the lead when the field turned out of the back straight, but she always appeared to be travelling smoothly.
The field began to bunch up coming down the side of the track, and Ohope Wins was moving through her gears.
McDonald hooked her to the outside at the top of the straight and let her rip, and Ohope Wins quickly bounded up alongside the leaders. Second favourite Profoundly rose to meet her challenge and proved the hardest to get past, but Ohope Wins slowly but surely edged ahead to win by a long neck.
“They ran the race really quickly, so it suited her down to the ground,” McDonald said. “I always had a plan to ride her quiet. We were fortunate that the pace went on and it never stopped, so it was going to be the toughest stayer that won, and that’s exactly what she was.
“It didn’t quite go her way last start at Rosehill, which was a slowly run race. She’s a very gritty filly and showed that today, where she had enough on the line. The other two (placegetters Profoundly and After Summer) were brave, and it was lucky we were on a good horse.”
Waller was quick to point out the groundwork that had been laid by the Oaks heroine’s previous trainers.
“I can’t take all the credit,” he said. “Obviously I’ve been entrusted with the horse by Yulong.
“Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott did a great job with her before she came to me, plus they’ve given me a hand with her as well. Very friendly and very helpful, which we’ve got to thank them for.
“It hasn’t been hard at all inheriting her for this Oaks campaign, because you know the horse is good enough. It was just about keeping it simple. We might not have got it quite right with the Vinery, but I think she just needed the run. Speaking with Lance O’Sullivan, the confidence he had in her – he said she’s one of the best horses he’s ever dealt with, so it’s a pretty big comment coming from him.
“She’s a lovely filly that’s been gifted to us by the Yulong team and well done to Lance and Andrew for the job they did. We’ve just kept it simple with a very talented filly.”
Ohope Wins was bred by Gartshore Bloodstock and raced in their white, black and red colours until she was purchased by Yulong.
She is by Waikato Stud stallion Ocean Park, who is enjoying one of the best seasons of his career and sits third on the New Zealand sires’ premiership. That success has been built on the likes of Ohope Wins along with Group Two-winning fellow three-year-old fillies Tellum and Autumn Glory. The latter was runner-up behind Ohope Wins in the New Zealand Oaks and then filled the same position in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m).
The dam of Ohope Wins is the Redoute’s Choice mare Choux Mania, who is a half-sister to the Group One winners Jimmy Choux and Miss Wilson. Jimmy Choux was a five-time winner at the elite level including the New Zealand Derby (2400m) and the Rosehill Guineas (2000m), was runner-up in the Cox Plate (2040m), and was New Zealand’s Horse of the Year in 2011-12.
A three-quarter-sister to Ohope Wins is currently being offered by Haunui Farm in the NZB National Online Yearling Sale on Gavelhouse Plus, which concludes on Tuesday from 6pm NZT. The filly by Ocean Park is catalogued as Lot 87, and bidding currently stands at $10,000. – NZ Racing Desk.
