Trish Dunell
Durable galloper Waipipi Lad collected expenses for an upcoming move with his latest victory at Te Rapa.
The sprightly eight-year-old produced a gallant performance in the hands of Sam Spratt on Saturday to account for his Rating 85 rivals after looking to be in trouble in the straight.
“He’s a tough old bugger and Sam said she thought he was beaten when the other horse (Kitaya) headed her and was travelling a lot better, but he dug deep,” trainer Jon Miller said.
“He knows his job and while he’s not top class, he’s capable of knocking over a good field on his day.
“He’s a happy horse and I might look at an open mile in a month’s time for him.”
The race in mind for the son of Mr Nancho is the Listed Haunui Farm Classic at Pukekohe, the training base Miller will shortly leave for a shift to Cambridge.
“I’ve bought Anne Herbert’s place so we’ll be taking over next month,” he said. “I’ll have half a dozen horses in work and I’ve been breeding a few.”
The star of his small team is the Group One placegetter Prince Of Passion, who is currently in the early stages of a new campaign.
“Anne agreed to take him so he’s already there on the walker in pre-training,” Miller said.
The winner of five races, Prince Of Passion produced a career-high performance earlier this year when he finished runner-up to Thee Auld Floozie in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile at Trentham. – NZ Racing Desk.