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Well known thoroughbred breeding identity Emma Evans enjoyed a golden half hour on Saturday as she produced a unique winning double.
The Evans bred and owned Watch This Space commenced his spring campaign with a gritty victory at Ruakaka in the Open 1200 metre contest while just 15 minutes later promising mare Deals In Heels scored with authority over 1300 metres at Hastings.
Both winners herald from a remarkable female lineage that has provided Evans with more than a decade of success including Group One winner Dezigna who was out of Label Basher, the granddam of both Watch This Space and Deals In Heels.Now a six-year-old, the underrated Watch This Space has come back in fine fettle for trainer Wayne Hillis who admitted he was confident of a forward showing from his charge on the weekend.
“He always goes pretty good fresh and being able to get a decent track for him was also a positive,” he said.“He’s got plenty of ability although his form towards the end of his last campaign doesn’t really reflect that.
“We took on the best at mainly weight-for-age or set weights and penalties which isn’t his go as he doesn’t cop the big weights that well. In the Easter Stakes he was giving most of them weight which was just a little too tough for him.”A win in the Gr. 2 Japan-NZ Trophy at Tauranga in March 2016 showed the Elusive City gelding has what it takes to foot it at the elite level with Hillis keen to prove that later in this campaign as he sets his sights on a major prize at Riccarton’s New Zealand Cup Carnival in November.
“At this stage, I’m keen to have a crack at the Coupland’s Mile with him during Cup Week,” he said.“He goes well at a mile so the plan is to try and get him to that race in this campaign.
“While he’s fresh we’ll probably give him another go at 1200 metres then he’ll head to the Group Three Sprint over 1400 metres at Hastings on the last day of their carnival and hopefully on to Riccarton after that.”The Gr. 2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile is the feature event on the middle day of the New Zealand Cup Carnival at Riccarton on 15 November.
