Consistent Group One galloper Wyndspelle (NZ) (Iffraaj) is likely to be aimed towards an elite level target on his home track after another strong performance when narrowly beaten into second in Saturday’s Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) behind all-the-way winner The Mitigator.
The son of Iffraaj has won the best part of $700,000 in prizemoney under the tutelage of Otaki trainers Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard and landed the Gr.1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) two starts back.
“I’m really proud of him. He is a special horse that seems to find a way to feature,” Benner said.
“He is a six-year-old entire and he looks like he is in career best form. I think the front-runners bias at Trentham was what beat him in the end.
“A lot of horses were winning off the front, but it was a very good run to make the ground he did. He got a lovely run and it was a very good ride.”
The Gr.1 Haunui Farm WFA Classic (1600m) on February 22 now looks a likely target for Wyndspelle to further enhance his stallion credentials.
“It is probably the obvious target,” Benner said.
“He does hold a nomination for the Herbie Dyke (Gr.1, 2000m) but ten furlongs has proven to be too far in the past.
“I know he won a Waikato Guineas at 2000m, but that was at age group level and he got a peachy ride.
“We might just keep our powder dry and come here to Otaki. It looks a race that he is really going to be hard to beat in at weight for age.
“He ran well in it last year when second and I am picking that Te Akau Shark and Melody Belle won’t be here, so we will probably just target that race.”
