Evergreen hurdler Verry Flash (NZ) (Zed) capped off a stellar weekend of results for owner Nicholas Bishara when opening his season with a tough victory in The Grant Sweeney Memorial Open Hurdle (3000m) at Wanganui on Sunday.
A full-brother to champion mare Verry Elleegant, Verry Flash has had plenty of success in his own right, winning 14 races including three in the jumping role in the care of Kevin Myers. The gelding was heavily-backed in his return to hurdling for the year, closing a $1.90 favourite over stablemates Obrigado and Run Jakko Run.
Verry Flash was keen to get into his work early in the race, but eventually settled into a rhythm heading into the home straight for the first time. Obrigado was the first to challenge the gelding at the 1000m and the pair would end up fighting out the finish, with jockey Corey Wiles getting the best out of Verry Flash to defeat his brother Kylan aboard Obrigado by a neck.
Bishara couldn’t speak more highly of the ten-year-old, who Myers assured was still full of running as he headed into his new campaign.
“He’s just as sound as a bell, he’s a fantastic older horse and you’d love to have ten of them in the stable,” Bishara said. “He’s just a grouse horse to do anything with, a beautiful nature and a terrific animal with the will to win at ten.
“I had a chat to Kevin a little while ago and he said the horse was flying, he was better than ever and is definitely keen enough to be a racehorse for one more prep. I trusted Kevin’s advice and it’s paid off already, he’s three runs into a prep and already a winner again.
“I can’t stress enough what a grand old horse he is, he’s just a cool dude.”
A son of Grangewilliam Stud’s late sire Zed out of Opulence, Verry Flash has now surpassed $400,000 in stakes earnings, with 15 wins and 18 placings from 79 appearances. He was bred by the late Don Goodwin, who raced the gelding alongside Bishara.
Highlighted by the feats of the formidable Verry Elleegant, the family continues to produce big-race performers, including class Australian hurdler Affluential and recent Group Three-winning filly Belle Detelle.
“It’s turning into a very good family, the Opulence family, Affluential won the Australian Hurdle last year and was just nutted in the big hurdle at Warrnambool this year after winning over 2500m on the flat,” Bishara said.
“With Verry Elleegant and now Belle Detelle, the family has really come to life.”
In a training capacity, Bishara had played a starring role on the previous day at Arawa Park, scoring a winning double with Sacred Zed (NZ) (Zed) and Whiskey N’ Rye (NZ) (Derryn).
A homebred gelding by Zed, Sacred Zed was making his third appearance to the races after putting two solid performances together this campaign. In the hands of Matt Cartwright, Sacred Zed settled in the second half of the field in the Van Dyks 1400 and had plenty of ground to make up on the home turn, as pacemaker Ribkraka broke away from the field.
Ribraka took some catching but Sacred Zed relished in the heavy conditions, powering over the top to take the three-year-old contest by a half-length.
“I was very, very happy with him, he copped the conditions well but he also handles better tracks which is quite exciting,” Bishara said. “I think there is a real future for him.
“We’ll probably just hang around here, there is an outside chance that he could go to the Caloundra Guineas (Gr.3, 1600m) on the Sunshine Coast, but we’ll wait and see. He’s pulled up well, he ate up last night so we could also head to the ITM three-year-old mile final up at Whangarei, there is a good stake there.
“I’ve got the full-brothers, older and younger, but he seems to be the pick of them at this stage.”
In the final event of the day, stablemate Whiskey N’ Rye replicated that result with a tactical ride from apprentice Maria Sanson. After missing the start, the gelding settled near-last but runners were fanning wide across the track from the outset, attempting to find better ground.
The son of Derryn covered more ground than any other runner and came right down the outside rail, but that proved to be the winning of the race, racing away from his rivals to win by 3 – ½ lengths.
“It was the plan late in the day to find the fast lane on the outside of the track, but we weren’t meant to be that far back, he just blundered the start a little bit and got back further than I anticipated,” Bishara said. “But, he cruised into it and just about won untouched, I think she (Sanson) only gave him a tap on the shoulder.
“It was a pretty impressive win and I think he can go through the grades this winter, we might throw in a nom for the Winter Cup (Gr.3, 1600m) and see if he can get enough rating points to get there.”
Now a winner of three races, Whiskey N’ Rye was bred by Grangewilliam Stud and purchased by connections for $25,000 out of their draft at the 2022 National Yearling Sales.