 | RACING HISTORY |
YEAR: 1996
FEATURE RACE COMMENT
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| John Hay, There's A Franco & Wayne Francis |
There was no-one more appropriate than Wayne Francis to step up and receive the trophy for the Nevele R Stud New Zealand Oaks.
One of the doyens of the New Zealand breeding industry, Francis won the race with his Holmes Hanover filly There's A Franco, who came from behind Highland Park and Party Party to win pulling away. As co-proprietor with Bob McArdle of Nevele R Stud, Francis sponsored the race, a Group race he won earlier with Preferred, a Boyden Hanover filly Malcolm Shinn raced with him.
His second winner was driven by John Hay, a very capable horseman he employed as private trainer at Spreydon Lodge nearly two years ago. He knew that Hay would take time to get the results he was hoping for. "When he came, he really had to start from scratch. They were foals and yearlings, and There's A Franco was one of those he has brought through from a yearling. There have been others, like Franco Hat Trick, who we just sold for big money, and No Way Franco who had more natural ability and more speed but got a virus, bled and will go to stud next season. We could actually have been in the nice situation of having two top runners in the Sires' Stakes Final and the DB Fillies final, but we have only the filly. I'm looking for a super horse, like everyone else, but I also have to apply commercial judgement and this is what I did in the case of selling Franco Hat Trick. I have the mother, and I have her daughters," he said.
For Francis, winning the Oaks was a thrill. In terms of prestige, it falls short of winning the New Zealand Cup and Inter-Dominion Grand Final, which he did with Stanley Rio, but owning the sire and dam gave him a different satisfaction this time. Tango Franco, a daughter of the grand racemare Tempest Tiger, earlier left This Time Franco, also by Holmes Hanover, who won the DB Fillies Final after finishing second in the Oaks a week earlier. Tango Franco was one of 20 mares Francis sent to the stud's new import Falcon Seelster this stud season. As pleased as he is with the combination so far, the conservative Francis predicts brighter days ahead..."this time next year, I'd be surprised if we can't look back and be pretty happy with the results."
The race itself was a tight, testing event, with some drivers electing to go for the penalty as they rejected the push-out rule outside the 1000 metres. Greg Hope was fined $500 for this, and it cost Barry Purdon, who followed him out, $350. The main sufferer was Impact, one of the favourites, who instead of improving three wide, had to do it four-wide. Talking on those tactics, driver Ricky May said tersely: "Sheer incompetence, that's all it was."
Hay was fortunate to escape injury in a smash in the race after the Oaks. He had blurred vision which prevented him for driving in the latter races, but the Oaks and a win earlier behind the Geoff Dunn- trained Never Going Holme in a Sires' Stakes heat minimised the seriousness of the mishap for him.
Credit: Mike Grainger writing in NZHR Weekly