Cole kennel shines on sentimental day

Allegro Ginny was too good in the Group 2 Farmlands CopRice Waikato Classic Final. Photo credit: Yvette Bodiam.

It’s a raceday that Lisa and Brendon Cole target every year.

The annual New Year’s Eve race meeting at Cambridge features the $15,000 Denis Cole Waikato Sprint, named in honour of Brendon Cole’s late brother. This year, Team Cole not only quinallaed the Sprint, they also won the Group 2 Farmlands CopRice Waikato Classic Final, the Mighty Waikato Maiden Series Final, and an additional support race.

“It was amazing to get those feature wins, especially with all of the travel,” says kennel representative Taylor Thornton.

Lisa Cole was well-represented in the Group 2 Farmlands CopRice Waikato Classic Final, with three runners in the $20,000 event.

Thrilling Sprite found the early lead off Box 1, but Allegro Ginny also began well from Box 7. Allegro Ginny showed great tenacity to score narrowly on the line, with the unlucky Thrilling Risk sprouting wings late to grab second, ahead of Thrilling Sprite.

Allegro Ginny has only had 12 raceday starts, but she has already won nine of them, and further restricted age Group races beckon over the next few months.

“Brendon labelled her about two weeks before the heats,” laughs Thornton.

“She’ll head to Addington next week for the heats of the New Zealand Breeders’ Stakes, and after that, she’ll definitely target the New Zealand Oaks.”

In the Denis Cole Waikato Sprint, Typhoon Tim justified his short-priced favouritism. The speedy son of Spring Gun and Spare Cash jumped straight to the front from Box 6, and from there, nothing could catch him, clocking a time of 20.79. There was a four-length margin back to his kennelmate Big Time Prada in second, with Zipping Hewitt finishing in third.

“We’re extremely happy with him. He’ll head down to Addington next week, but before that, he’s racing at Auckland on Sunday (Race 11), where we hope he’ll be winning.”

Typhoon Tim, who finished third in the Group 1 Galaxy Sprint in mid-November, has now won 26 races from 51 starts, and has been thriving since crossing the Tasman a few months ago.

Other highlights on Friday’s programme included the Thrilling Brat Distance Feature, which was taken out impressively by the Sam Lozell-trained Shaynee, who returned to winning form in emphatic style.

The 2021 New Zealand Derby winner Pedro Lee was also a standout, winning the Farmlands Virkon Waikato Cup Final with ease for his conditioner Peter Ferguson.


By Liz Whelan