Written by Paul Vettise
Wentwood Grange has celebrated another major result with Kolding (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}) and shared in another at Randwick when Montefilia, a daughter of homebred Kermadec (NZ), opened her account at the top level in the G1 Flight S.
The Hawkins family sold the Chris Waller-trained multiple Group 1 winner Kolding, who added the G2 Hill S. at Randwick to his resume on Saturday and is now on a path to the G1 Cox Plate.
“It was a very, very good day for us and a pretty good run so far this spring so hopefully it will carry on,” Dean Hawkins said.
“Kolding won the G1 George Main S. as well and we bred the Ocean Park mare High Emocean, who won the Listed Ansett Classic. She’s quite a progressive mare.
“Chris Waller is a remarkable trainer and it’s great to see him have Kolding back and performing so well on the dry tracks.
“We haven’t got the mare anymore and bred her with Warren Pegg and we’ve got a half-sister to Kolding with Warren. She’s called Unique Magic and won six races and she’s in foal to Brazen Beau and due to drop any time soon.
“She’s called Unique Magic and won six races and she’s in foal to Brazen Beau and due to drop any time soon.” – Dean Hawkins
“We bred her and Warren bought her off us and now we’re back together again. Hopefully, she is going to Ocean Park this year.”
This preparation, Kolding claimed top honours in the G1 George Main S. and off the back of his Hill S. success will head toward the Cox Plate.
“Hopefully he can win three in a row because the next one might be a bit bigger," Waller said.
"Winning form is good form. When the barrier draw came out for the Epsom we took a blow, but when you are racing in Sydney you have options and good prizemoney options as well.”
Den Hawkins
Kolding was scratched from the Epsom after drawing barrier 20 and Waller said the Hill S. fitted in well with his future program.
“It was a $500,000 race it hasn’t affected his preparation and he can march on to his next start,” Waller said.
Kolding had opened his campaign with an unflattering performance when 12th in the G1 Winx S. and Waller said no stone was left unturned after that performance.
“Everybody else has jumped back on board, I was getting lonely. Nothing was wrong with him and when a horse doesn’t win we turn all pages to see if anything is wrong, externally and internally.
“We couldn’t find a thing wrong. We’ve been justified with a Group 1 and now another good win.”
Shared delight
Montefilia’s victory in the Flight S. for trainer David Payne was also received with delight at Wentwood.
“We can still share in the excitement of Kermadec siring a Group 1 winner and we’ve got a fair few around us,” Hawkins said. “We’ve got two yearlings, three mares in foal to him and sent another three to him this year. We’ve got about nine members of the family around as well.”
Kermadec (NZ) | Standing at Darley
Wentwood sold Kermadec at the 2013 New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale to trainer Chris Waller’s bloodstock advisor Guy Mulcaster for NZ$260,000.
He is a son of Hy Fuji (Fuji Kiseki {Jpn}), who was a Listed winner and dam of another black-type performer in Good Winning (Al Maher). She is still a resident on the farm.
“She is due to foal to Ribchester a bit later on. She’s 20 now and is pretty late so our number one priority is making sure she is safe and sound and we’ll wait to decide if we are going to mate her,” Hawkins said.
