Prendergasts dare to win at Wingatui
Canterbury trainers Tony and Lyn Prendergast wish they had 10 more horses like Who Dares Wins in their stable. The consistent galloper took his stakes tally to three when victorious in the Listed Timaru Cup (1600m) last start and will attempt to add another at Wingatui on Saturday when he contests the Group 3 White Robe Lodge Weight-For-Age (1600m). “We were rapt with his win at Timaru,” Lyn Prendergast said. “She (Samantha Wynne, jockey) had to turn him pretty sharp to get a run and I couldn’t be happier.”
Who Dares Wins was given a quick freshen-up after the win and pleased his trainers with his 1000m trial at Ashburton on January 16. “We gave him a week off after the Timaru Cup,” Prendergast said. “He gets quite gross and puts on a lot of weight, so we gave him a little trial. “We were really happy with his trial, we didn’t want to give him a hard trial. “He is as ready as we can get him for Saturday, he is bang on.”
Prendergast believes the weight-for-age conditions on Saturday will ideally suit her 10-win gelding. “The weight-for-age is tailor-made for him because they are all carrying 59kg and the mares 57kg,” she said. “He will still need luck (from barrier 10), but we are really happy with him. “He is such a consistent horse. We wouldn’t mind having a stable full who are half as good.”
With a 102 rating, Prendergast said the son of Iffraaj is better kept for weight-for-age races and is eyeing the Group 3 Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m) in April with her charge, a race he won last year. “We will probably target the Canterbury Cup because it is weight-for-age too,” Prendergast said. “We have got to be careful because of where he is placed in the weights. He is not particularly an apprentice horse either.”
Meanwhile, Prendergast is also looking forward to lining up Bogatyr in the Wingatui Function Centre 1400. “John Parsons has a horse (Quintuple Twins) who is going to be hard to beat,” she said. “We have got him fit and well and he’s better than his form line shows. “If he does it right and gets a nice run from the three draw we think he will be right in it.”