Group 1 aim for rejuvenated Oak Hill
Reformed gelding Oak Hill (Per Incanto) served notice of some black type success to come in springtime sprints with a sparkling return in winning a small but strong short course feature at The Valley on Saturday.
Sent out a narrow $2.70 favourite in a five-horse field in the 1000-metre Benchmark 100 event, the Ballymore Stables-owned five-year-old settled last behind an even tempo and pounced on his rivals on the turn for Blake Shinn, powering away to win by 1.5 lengths.
Rosemont Stud’s Group-placed gelding Midwest (Zoustar) held on for second after leading, 0.2 lengths ahead of Boston Rocks (Hellbent) in third.
Mornington Glory (Shalaa), the $3.20 second favourite, took his first step aimed at defending his Moir Stakes (Gr 1, 1000m) crown next month, but after pressuring the leader faded in the straight to run last.
Oak Hill, a half-brother to Group 1-winning New Zealander Desert Lightning (Pride Of Dubai), will now be considered a leading fancy for elite success himself in the Moir—and in the lead-up Carlyon Stakes (Listed, 1000m) along the way—looming as another stakes winner this spring for Little Avondale Stud’s irrepressible Per Incanto (Street Cry).
A $180,000 Karaka yearling purchase for Ballymore and Paul Moroney Bloodstock, Oak Hill won five of his first 12 starts for various incarnations of the Mike Moroney and Glen Thompson team.
Trained solely by Thompson after Mike Moroney’s death in February, he had one try at black type for a modest eighth in Flemington’s Bob Hoysted Handicap (Listed, 1000m) last March, before running second to Midwest in the $500,000 Discovery (1000m) at Echuca in April.
Transferred to the Hayes brothers, he scored at Caulfield in May on debut for his new stable before the spell which preceded Saturday’s first-up victory.
Ben Hayes, like Shinn, said the gelding shaped as a formidable force on the track now that some wayward early habits appeared to have been brought into line.
“We’re very lucky. He arrived to us in great order, and has not done much wrong since he arrived,” Hayes told Racing.com.
“Today, what I loved was he relaxed beautifully. There was a nice genuine tempo and the way he rounded them up was very exciting.
“As a young horse, he used to over-race a bit, but he relaxed today and finished off strong, and beat a small but competitive field.
“With a lot of these horses, they just mature and they just get better and better. It’s just about keeping a routine, having a good rider on him and just keeping on top, and they learn to relax. That’s what he did today, and that’s why you saw such a good turn of foot.”
Hayes added it was encouraging to see Oak Hill succeed on a Soft 6, having failed in his last attempt on rain-affected going.
“It’s very exciting. Full steam ahead to the Moir now, with the Carlyon in between,” he said.
Shinn said he was ‘really proud’ of Oak Hill for a professional display rising in class from Benchmark 90 grade win to Saturday’s assignment.
“The approach was just to ride the horse to suit his best attributes and ensure that he settles well,” said Shinn, the premier jockey in Melbourne and Victoria last season, and the second-most successful in the country all told, with 159 wins to the 167.5 of Perth’s William Pike.
“There’s been a lot of work gone into him to get his manners right, and I thought as long as we get that part right in the early stages he should do the last part right.
“He was going up in class today against some seasoned gallopers but he prepped up nice. He was a little underdone but I thought if we got the first part right, hopefully he could take care of the last part, which he did.
“He jumped out really kindly. They didn’t go that quick in the early stages but I didn’t want to give him a signal in the early stages and bring all the work that had been done to get him to settle undone.
“Because he relaxed so well, I was able to put him into the race a little bit early. He was on top of them upon straightening, and he really sustained a good sprint to the line.
“For the Moir Stakes, he’s going to have to go up a level again, but there is improvement in the horses and his mannerisms are really turning the corner. It’s exciting times ahead.”
Oak Hill is the fifth of eight foals for the unraced Isstoora (High Chaparral), whose fourth foal is Desert Lightning, winner of Trentham’s Captain Cook Stakes/Mufhasa Classic (Gr 1, 1600) and the Avondale Guineas (Gr 2, 2100m) in 2023.
Switched to Melbourne and the Moody-Coleman stable, Desert Lightning claimed last September’s Sandown Stakes (Gr 3, 1500m), and ran fourth in this year’s Stradbroke Handicap (Gr 1, 1400m) at Eagle Farm.
Isstoora has a two-year-old full-brother to Oak Hill, and was covered by Per Incanto, who is standing for an increased fee of $60,000 (plus GST) this season, again last spring.
Bookmakers reacted to Saturday’s win by turning Oak Hill into an $8 equal-fourth favourite for the Moir on September 6, in a market headed by Grahame Begg’s seven-time winner Niance (Swiss Ace) at $4.