PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK

Lincoln Lady

Lincoln Lady might well be one of the most progressive sprinters going around at the moment, with the 4yo mare making it four on the bounce with an emphatic victory at Hawera on Sunday. The Stephen Marsh trained, and Lincoln Farms owned, daughter of Belardo had won three very impressively on Heavy10 tracks leading into Sunday, with the much firmer Good4 surface proving no issue for her. Lincoln Lady has won her last four races by an aggregate margin of 14.6L, with the mare looking like she will continue to progress through the grades.

RUNNING HOT

Mark Walker & Sam Bergerson

It was a fruitful week for Te Akau Racing, with the Walker/Bergerson training partnership winning 4 in succession at Riccarton on Saturday, whilst also training 3 further winners across the last week of racing. Among the 7 winners was an impressive debut victory from 2yo Bellatrix Star at Whanganui on Saturday, as well as promising 3yo Talisker breaking his maiden at Riccarton Synthetic on Thursday.

SECTIONAL SPECIAL

Sorcha

Sorcha was visually very impressive when winning at Riccarton Synthetic on Thursday, with the clock backing the performance up. Sorcha ran the fastest first 400m to lead the 1200m contest, before sprinting home in the fastest closing 800m, 600m, 400m and 200m of the race, whilst also breaking 11 seconds for each 200m split from the 600m to the post. This dominant display may be a sign of things to come for Sorcha, as she will look to progress through the grades in the south over the spring carnival.

MARKET MOVER

Cliodhna Maeve

The betting plunge on Cliodhna Maeve was one of the bigger, if not the biggest market move of the week. The Samantha Wynne trained 3yo was backed in from $15.00 when markets opened, all the way into the tote favourite at $4.50 come the jump on Saturday. The race couldn’t have gone less to plan for Cliodhna Maeve, with the 3yo filly being impeded from as soon as the gates opened and then not obtaining clear running until the race was effectively over. Once eventually getting clear running, Cliodhna Maeve ran the fastest closing 200m of the race, suggesting she may have finished a lot closer should she have had an ounce more luck in running. The market support and the manner in which Cliodhna Maeve hit the lines suggests she is one to follow next time.

FLASHING LIGHT

Flower Of Wanaka

It would have been a very hard watch for connections and backers of Flower Of Wanaka at Whanganui on Saturday. Given a very nice run in-transit by apprentice, Lily Sutherland, Flower Of Wanaka looked to be travelling well within herself as the sprint went on. Unfortunately for the the Chrissy Bambry trained mare, gaps kept closing for her all the way down the straight until the last 100m, where she surged late to only be beaten a neck (0.3L) on the line.