Oor Wullie (outside)
Wild Range Photography
Oor Wullie staved off retirement with a bold last-start performance and he can further extend his career with another strong showing at Oamaru on Thursday.
The rising nine-year-old turned in the best effort of his current campaign on the course earlier this month when he finished runner-up behind Speedy Jax in the Waimate Cup.
"I was very happy with that run – I took him there thinking it may have been his swansong," owner-trainer Jo-Anne Dalton said.
"He had been mixing his form a bit this year and they can't keep going forever.
"I bred him myself and he's been very good to me so I'm not going to keep racing him just for the sake of it."
Named after a Scottish cartoon character, Oor Wullie is relatively lightly-raced for his age with five wins and 17 placings, including a close third in last year's Listed Riverton Cup, from his 42 starts.
"He didn't race until he was a four-year-old, he was a weak Yamanin Vital so we took our time with him," Dalton said.
She is also taking a similar approach with Mac Murdoch, Oor Wullie's half-brother by Gallant Guru.
"He's been placed, but he's out spelling as he needs time to strengthen up," Dalton said.
Oor Wullie will be dropping back from an open handicap to Rating 80 company on Thursday and, therefore, has climbed the handicap to 61kg, which will be countered to some degree by Jacob Lowry's two kilo claim.
The obvious danger looms as the Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards-trained last-start winner Hushed, who along with Flirtey Gertey (race three), Love Actually (race five), I See Fire (race seven) and Our Drahma Queen (race nine) give the Matamata trainers a quality hand at the meeting. – NZ Racing Desk.
The rising nine-year-old turned in the best effort of his current campaign on the course earlier this month when he finished runner-up behind Speedy Jax in the Waimate Cup.
"I was very happy with that run – I took him there thinking it may have been his swansong," owner-trainer Jo-Anne Dalton said.
"He had been mixing his form a bit this year and they can't keep going forever.
"I bred him myself and he's been very good to me so I'm not going to keep racing him just for the sake of it."
Named after a Scottish cartoon character, Oor Wullie is relatively lightly-raced for his age with five wins and 17 placings, including a close third in last year's Listed Riverton Cup, from his 42 starts.
"He didn't race until he was a four-year-old, he was a weak Yamanin Vital so we took our time with him," Dalton said.
She is also taking a similar approach with Mac Murdoch, Oor Wullie's half-brother by Gallant Guru.
"He's been placed, but he's out spelling as he needs time to strengthen up," Dalton said.
Oor Wullie will be dropping back from an open handicap to Rating 80 company on Thursday and, therefore, has climbed the handicap to 61kg, which will be countered to some degree by Jacob Lowry's two kilo claim.
The obvious danger looms as the Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards-trained last-start winner Hushed, who along with Flirtey Gertey (race three), Love Actually (race five), I See Fire (race seven) and Our Drahma Queen (race nine) give the Matamata trainers a quality hand at the meeting. – NZ Racing Desk.