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Weekend off to a winning start for Wexford
Richard Edmunds, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • October 10th, 2025 4:44 pm
General Menari winning at Taupō on Friday | Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott got a busy weekend off to a promising start with two wins at Taupo on Friday.
The Wexford Stables team won the first race on the card, the Placemakers Rotorua Maiden (1800m), with lightly raced four-year-old Gippsy God, and two hours later they saddled first-starter General Menari for a smart victory in the McLeod Hiabs 3YO (1100m).
For good measure, the Matamata trainers also collected placings with High Society and Woman In Charge.
“It was a really pleasing day,” Scott said. “Both of those winners had been working particularly well leading into the meeting, and they produced raceday performances to match.
“Young and inexperienced horses can sometimes get a bit lost around Taupo, but we took a good number there back in August to have a gallop and a look around the course. I think that’s stood us in good stead.”
General Menari, a son of the Snitzel stallion Menari, was bought for A$18,000 by owners Mark and Tania Stratford from the 2023 Inglis Australian Weanling Sale.
The gelding had won two of his three trials leading into Friday’s debut and stepped out as one of the favourites at $3.70. Masa Hashizume gave him a cosy run in third along the rail behind Too Darn Sweet and Mazino, then drove him in between that pair in the straight.
General Menari showed a good turn of foot and soon swept up alongside Too Darn Sweet, getting the better of that rival in the final few strides to win by a long neck.
“He’d shown in all of his trials that he has good levels of ability,” Scott said. “Those also gave him a good level of education leading into today. The team were really happy with how he’d been working.
“He was aided by a beautiful ride from Masa from a sweet draw, and then he did a good job to quicken in the straight. He can only keep on improving from here.
“We’re not going to get too far ahead of ourselves with him at this early stage of the season. We were never going to rush him and try to get him down to Christchurch or anything like that. He’s got the whole summer in front of him. January, February and March will be his time. He’s got the makings of a nice miler or maybe even a NZB Kiwi (1500m) horse.”
Tarzino gelding Gippsy God opened his winning account in style with a dominant victory on Friday. Lynsey Satherley presented him on the outside of the leaders at the turn and he took command, drawing away to win by two and a half lengths.
Gippsy God has now had eight starts for a win, a second and a fourth.
“He lacked a lot of luck as a three-year-old last season,” Scott said. “He ran in a number of those tough staying maiden races and had excuses every time. We put him away and gave him a good break, and he won with a bit of authority today.
“With a bit more maturity on his side, he can work through the grades.”
The Wexford team will attempt to carry Friday’s momentum into Sunday at Rotorua, where they will be represented by Grail Seeker in the Gr.3 Sweynesse Stakes (1215m), Smart Love in the Campbell Infrastructure (1400m), Sicillian in the Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua (1400m) and first-starter Yamato Satona in the Green Light Insurance Brokers (1400m).
“All of the team is really pleased with Grail Seeker,” Scott said. “She’s in good form at home. The weather looks like it might play its part and the track won’t be too wet, so we’re expecting to see her quicken well.
“She didn’t have a lot of luck in the Proisir (Gr.1, 1400m) last month. It was no one’s fault, she just didn’t have things go her way. Most of the field raced in very tight quarters, and she’s a big mare that needs to have a little bit of room, which she just never quite got. She ended up having a reasonably quiet run – no more than a trial, really.
“While the result was a little bit frustrating, it indicated that she’s going well. Had she got the breaks, I’m not saying she would have won, but we believe she would have run well and quickened with them.
“After that race, we gave her a week out at the farm to freshen up. Through that week, followed by a week of trotting and cantering, she put on 23 kilos and really came on in the coat.
“She galloped between races at Matamata on Saturday. Opie (Bosson) rode her – he was going to ride her this weekend until he got suspended. He was thrilled with how she felt, and we really thought it was right up there with some of the better work she’s done.
“Masa will take the mount. He’s ridden her in a few trials, so he knows her pretty well and she’s trialled well for him.”
Scott also has high hopes for other members of Wexford’s Rotorua team – particularly impressive last-start Te Rapa winner Smart Love and promising three-year-old colt Yamato Satona.
“Smart Love is a mare who’s shown quite a lot in her short career to date,” Scott said. “She’d trialled well leading into her resuming run at Te Rapa last month, and then it was very encouraging the way she came back and won so well first-up. Her assignment at Rotorua is another step up, but we think she can take that step.
“We’re also looking forward to Yamato Satona on Sunday. He’s trialled well on the track there at Rotorua and we think he’s a nice middle-distance three-year-old in the making.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
