Consistent Group 1 galloper Wyndspelle is likely to be aimed towards an elite level target on his home track after another strong performance when narrowly beaten into second in Saturday’s Group 1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) behind all-the-way winner The Mitigator.
The son of Iffraaj has won the best part of $700,000 in prizemoney under the tutelage of Otaki trainers Johno Benner and Hollie Wynyard and landed the Group 1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) two starts back. “I’m really proud of him. He is a special horse that seems to find a way to feature,” Benner said. “He is a six-year-old entire and he looks like he is in career best form. I think the front-runners bias at Trentham was what beat him in the end. “A lot of horses were winning off the front, but it was a very good run to make the ground he did. He got a lovely run and it was a very good ride.”
The Group 1 Haunui Farm WFA Classic (1600m) on February 22 now looks a likely target for Wyndspelle to further enhance his stallion credentials. “It is probably the obvious target,” Benner said. “He does hold a nomination for the Herbie Dyke (Group 1, 2000m) but ten furlongs has proven to be too far in the past.
“I know he won a Waikato Guineas at 2000m, but that was at age group level and he got a peachy ride. “We might just keep our powder dry and come here to Otaki. It looks a race that he is really going to be hard to beat in at weight for age. “He ran well in it last year when second and I am picking that Te Akau Shark and Melody Belle won’t be here, so we will probably just target that race.”