Olentia makes a mess of rivals in The Nivison
The Chris Waller-trained Olentia ($2.80) has returned with a barnstorming run to claim victory in the Group 3 Nivison (1200m) at Rosehill on Saturday afternoon, with the daughter of Zoustar proving far too classy despite being first-up after a 182-day spell.
She improved her first-up record to five starts for four wins on Saturday, with Tommy Berry biding his time behind the speed aboard the lightly raced five-year-old before exploding down the centre of the course in the final 400m.
The race was set up nicely thanks to last-start winner Peace Treaty ($6.50) leading them along at a genuine clip throughout, with Royal Merchant ($21.00) striding to her outside under Ryan Maloney.
Danny’s St Darci ($41.00) didn’t have much luck when attempting to get clear towards the inside under Rachel King and showed plenty of toughness to secure a second-place finish, while Coco Jamboo ($12.00) was doing her best work late to suggest a step up in trip would do wonders for the Peter Snowden-trained mare.
2024 The Nivison Replay – Olentia
It was all about the winner in the end, however, as Chris Waller suggested there’s still more to come from Olentia as she progresses throughout the spring.
“She’s a special horse,” said Waller.
“She’s had an injury, had time off and come back really well.
“She deserves to win a Group One race. I’m not sure when that will be or where it will be. The Invitation is in two weeks time, she’ll probably get one (invitation) on the back of that, it’s a big race, I think it’s a $2 million race and a Group Two, that’s what I’m thinking.
“She can go all the way, I think. That’s our opinion of her, prior to her winning today. And it was good to see her come back like that. She won with a bit of arrogance, and that’s what a Group One horse should be winning like.”
Tommy Berry was given confidence with the pre-race instructions by Chris Waller and was impressed with the result.
“There’s not one person in that stable that hasn’t not come to me and said, ‘this mare is flying’,” said Berry.
“I can’t repeat Chris’s instructions before the race, but pretty much it was just ‘win’.
“So even though she was underdone, as in she’s had a long time off, she’s got such a great fresh record and she just feels a bigger and better version than she was last prep.
“I was confident enough to come back when they were coming to the corner and let Timmy press on and get onto his back instead of banking on that bit of luck.
“I did that last prep first-up and it didn’t quite work out so I might have had a couple of flashbacks there.
“I just wanted to ride her like the best horse and not go for her two early, realising that we’ve got hopefully an Invitation, if anyone is out there and wants to give us one, because she’s the perfect horse for it.”
Comments are closed.