Former New Zealand-trained mare Polly Grey (NZ) (Azamour) has given Chris Waller successive wins in the Listed Gosford Cup (2100m), aided by a smart ride from in-form jockey Tommy Berry.
Berry had planned to settle the mare midfield but when the speed wasn’t as fast as anticipated, he cruised forward to trail leader and stablemate Wu Gok (Sebring).
The sprint went on before the corner and Berry got to work on Polly Grey ($2.80 fav), the mare striding to the front at the top of the straight and kicking strongly to hold Aliferous (Hinchinbrook) at bay by three-quarters of a length in the A$250,000 race.
Wu Gok ran his usual brave race to hold on for third another two lengths away.
“She has been placed very well by the team. I know they’ve had this race on the radar for quite a while with her,” Berry said.
“I was a little bit closer than I expected but a couple of the inside speed horses didn’t show as much speed, so I rode her like the best horse and it paid off.”
The Listed Gosford Cup (2100m) was Polly Grey’s second black-type success in her past three starts following her Gr.3 Epona Stakes (1900m) victory at Rosehill in March under James McDonald.
Berry believes the tough six-year-old still has more to offer this campaign.
“She is quite a big, strong, brutal horse. I rode her before she won with James and I had a tough run, albeit over a mile, and she was still quite big in condition then and she still feels like she’s got plenty of racing (in her) and she’s had a few runs now,” Berry said.
Waller’s stable representative Damien Fitton praised Berry’s initiative to settle the mare further forward when the opportunity presented.
“Ten out of ten, that’s why you put him on,” Fitton said.
“The plan was to be a bit more conservative, probably a pair or two back but she just got across beautifully, she switched off nicely. She was just too good.”
Waller was successful in the Gosford Cup with Another Dollar (NZ) (Ocean Park) 12 months ago.
Polly Grey joined Waller after winning six races for Matamata trainer Kylie Fawcett, including the Listed Matamata Cup (1600m) and Saturday’s win was her second since crossing the Tasman, albeit she has never been far away in her 12 starts for Waller.
Fawcett races Polly Grey with her partner Rob Joyce and brother Brook, while she leased a half-share in the mare to Auckland client John Thompson.
Bred by the late Barbara Perry, Polly Grey was bequeathed to Fawcett, who looked after Perry’s small broodmare band and young stock at her Oxford Thoroughbreds, 10 kilometres south of Matamata.
Polly Grey is by ill-fated shuttle sire Azamour, who spent just the one season at Brighthill Farm in 2013 before his untimely death at Gilltown Stud in Ireland in 2014.
