Promising staying mare Who Knows (NZ) (Redwood) delivered the result many anticipated when she took out a competitive John Turkington Forestry / Waipine Country Cup (2200m) at Trentham on Saturday.
The daughter of Redwood has been patiently handled by Niall Quinn, with just ten prior starts including two wins at a mile and 2100m. After building nicely into her autumn campaign, Who Knows was back out to a distance she truly thrives at and was backed as the horse to beat on Saturday, closing a shortening $2.10 favourite.
While punters expected Who Knows to be in front at the finish line, that wasn’t meant to be on the first lap, but the mare jumped away positively under Kate Hercock and she allowed her to stride forward to sit outside the leader Malfy Rosa.
The two mares maintained a solid tempo along the back straight and Who Knows was still travelling comfortably at the 600, while Malfy Rosa began to tire and was caught by Quid and Lincoln Star. The long Trentham straight becomes even longer for the horse in front from the outset, but it was of no concern to Who Knows, as she kept up a strong gallop to hold off second-elect Quid to score by a neck.
Wanganui-based Quinn revealed he and Hercock had intended to go forward and was rapt to see their plan pay off.
“She’s a pretty progressive mare and we’ve been pretty happy with her going into this,” he said.
“We wanted to go forward, and I thought that today was a better chance for her to get handier, with the way she was drawn.
“She’s just a really nice, honest horse. Emma (Quinn) does a lot of work with her at home so we’re very pleased.
“I think we’ll just keep taking her through the grades, we’ll take each race as it comes. We’ll work on from there.”
Hercock echoed Quinn’s praise for the five-year-old, indicating a serious staying race is well within her capabilities.
“Niall said she does have a tendency to be slow out, so give her a dig out, but I think as I was coming past the winning post the first time Niall would’ve been screaming,” she said.
“But, I rode her like the best horse in the field, there was no speed so I just let her roll along. There’s no point in trying to walk and sprint and she’s won very nicely.
“She just goes to sleep, you could ride her anywhere. Today, we’ve ended up sitting outside the leader in front, but other days you can ride her back. She’s very economical.”
Out of the Zabeel mare Bello Cappello, Who Knows has now won three of her 11 starts and over $70,000 in stakes for the Fast Horses Syndicate. Bello Cappello is out of a top race mare Cinder Bella, a dual Group One-winner on home soil and Group Two performer in Australia.