Two promising additions to Allan Sharrock’s stable made a winning start to their campaigns at Hawera on Sunday, in the form of Street Gossip (So You Think) and Confetti (NZ) (Ocean Park).
A five-year-old by So You Think, Street Gossip had raced in Australia for the duration of her 15-start career, winning the Listed Princess Stakes (1615m) and was third in the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet (1800m) in the care of Mark Newnham.
The mare had her final start for her most-recent trainer Joe Pride for third in a Benchmark 94 contest in April, before being sold to Dianne McDonald at the Inglis Chairman’s Sale and crossed the Tasman to join Sharrock’s New Plymouth barn.
Her first public appearance on New Zealand soil was a comfortable win at the Foxton trials on July 26, giving punters enough confidence to start her a $2.60 equal-favourite under the 59kg top-weight with Sinbin in the Paul Jones Construction 1200.
Storming out of the gates under Lisa Allpress, Street Gossip had the early lead before Papa Surf crossed to take over, the grey maintaining a solid tempo up-front to the home turn. Street Gossip loomed up outside of Papa Surf at the 200 metres and her class was evident in the finish, pulling away to score with her ears pricked by 1 ½ lengths.
“She was really good, I used it as a trial as she’s only had that one trial for me, so we went in a little bit blind,” Sharrock said.
“She was comprehensive and we’ll probably look for an open class or black-type race for her now, she’s a nice mare. It would be good to get some more black-type for her.
“Dianne McDonald purchased her and decided to leave her with me which I was proud of, so let’s hope it works out well going forward.”
Earlier on the New Plymouth card, Sharrock and Allpress combined to take out a competitive Peter Kuklinski Retirement Maiden (1200m) with Confetti.
A lightly-raced four-year-old, Confetti had three starts for Peter and Dawn Williams with her most recent run a bold performance for second at Te Rapa in May. After the successful couple’s retirement from training, Confetti was transferred to Sharrock and was also a trial winner at Foxton prior to having her fresh-up run at the Taranaki venue.
The race was predicted as a three-horse contest between Confetti and promising types He’s Lucid and Belles Fate, and it panned out as expected with Confetti and Belles Fate fighting out a tight finish with the former prevailing by a neck, with He’s Lucid running gamely into third from back in the field.
“She did a great job, I’ve always respected Peter Williams throughout my career and he passed this horse onto me with his retirement,” Sharrock said.
“He said to me that it would win first-up and he’s a very good judge, so I’m happy to have her in the stable and happy to have another one for Waikato Stud.”
Racing in the colours of the Matamata nursery, Confetti is a daughter of Ocean Park out of an unraced Rock’N’Pop mare Party Popper.
“It’s a family that Waikato Stud have had for a while and they’d like to get some black-type at some stage, it wouldn’t be in this prep, but maybe next autumn,” Sharrock said.
“She won’t do a lot (in the interim) as I don’t know how adept she is in heavy ground, it was nice to strike a (Soft) 7 today but we won’t be getting too many of those in the next couple of months.
“We’ll just have to pick and choose a little bit as to where we go.
“I like her, she’s a really nice mare.”
Another of the stable’s representatives, Explosive Impact (NZ) (Staphanos), completed a winning treble for Allpress and Sharrock as the odds-on favourite in the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series (1600m), earning her deserved maiden success by 2 ¼ lengths to fellow local Keen On Bubbles.
A four-year-old by Staphanos, Explosive Impact was bred and raced by Explosive Breeding Ltd, as the first foal out of Jakkalberry mare Jakkie’s Dancer.
