Irish Call
Trish Dunell
Exciting five-year-old Irish Call has continued his part-owner and trainer Tarissa Mitchell's outstanding record at Riccarton.
The son of Civics remained undefeated in three starts on the course when he triumphed in the Winning Edge Presentations Premier on Saturday.
The Cambridge-based Mitchell's only other runner at Riccarton has been Call Me Royal, whose two starts there in the autumn reaped a win and a runner-up finish.
Following his opening day heroics, Irish Call will now have an opportunity to add to the stable's tally on the closing day of the New Zealand Cup carnival.
"He'll go up in grade next Saturday when we try him over 1800 metres," Mitchell said.
Irish Call is a strapping gelding and the 59kg he shouldered on Saturday wasn't expected to harm his chances and so it proved.
"He can carry weight and I wasn't worried about that at all," Mitchell said. "That's the furthest he's got back, but Sam rode him well."
She was referring to Samantha Wynne, who settled Irish Call three back on the fence and bided her time until the field fanned out in the straight.
"I got further back on the fence than I wanted, but the gaps opened up at the right time," she said.
"It's a long straight and I tried not to panic and he won really well in the end. He's a beautiful animal."
Irish Call, who has now won four of his 10 starts, took the gaps willingly close to home to account for the home track pair of Flying Ibis and Boots 'N' All. – NZ Racing Desk
The son of Civics remained undefeated in three starts on the course when he triumphed in the Winning Edge Presentations Premier on Saturday.
The Cambridge-based Mitchell's only other runner at Riccarton has been Call Me Royal, whose two starts there in the autumn reaped a win and a runner-up finish.
Following his opening day heroics, Irish Call will now have an opportunity to add to the stable's tally on the closing day of the New Zealand Cup carnival.
"He'll go up in grade next Saturday when we try him over 1800 metres," Mitchell said.
Irish Call is a strapping gelding and the 59kg he shouldered on Saturday wasn't expected to harm his chances and so it proved.
"He can carry weight and I wasn't worried about that at all," Mitchell said. "That's the furthest he's got back, but Sam rode him well."
She was referring to Samantha Wynne, who settled Irish Call three back on the fence and bided her time until the field fanned out in the straight.
"I got further back on the fence than I wanted, but the gaps opened up at the right time," she said.
"It's a long straight and I tried not to panic and he won really well in the end. He's a beautiful animal."
Irish Call, who has now won four of his 10 starts, took the gaps willingly close to home to account for the home track pair of Flying Ibis and Boots 'N' All. – NZ Racing Desk