Melbourne Cup contender to Join Waller Stable

Media Release - Monday September 6

Melbourne Cup contender Ocean Billy’s storming effort at Te Rapa has convinced trainer Bill Pomare to take on the weight-for-age gallopers again in the Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings on September 18.

Ocean Billy winning the Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m). Photo: Trish Dunell

The Gr.1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner flashed home late to finish fifth behind Mascarpone in the Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m).

The run surprised many but not Pomare.

“I took him to a jumpout with three of Jamie Richards’ good horses and he jumped and stayed with them all the way. Normally he’s slow out of the gates, but that effort gave me an inkling he’d run well at Te Rapa,” Pomare said.

“If he hadn’t got caught on the rail earlier on he may have been closer. He’s much better if he gets some space to get going.”

The Gr.1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) and Gr.1 Melbourne Cup (3200m) are Ocean Billy’s principal targets this spring, and Pomare had planned to run him next in an open 1600m event at Hastings on Tarzino day, but the effort at Te Rapa persuaded him to tackle the day’s feature.

“The way he finished over 1200m, he’s still fresh enough to go a pretty mean 1400m, and he’s going to be racing against similar horses to what he raced against on Saturday,” Pomare said.

“The Hastings track is the type that should suit him down to the ground. It’s normally a fairly good track.”

If all goes well there, he might well back up at Hastings in the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m) at Hastings on October 2, with the other alternative being to find a 2000m race prior to heading to Australia.

Pomare said he doesn’t have any problem taking Ocean Billy next up from 1600m to 2400m for the Caulfield Cup on October 16.

Advertisement

“Once he’s fit, he’s very easy to maintain. He’s a very clean-winded horse,” he said.

“When I ran him in the Avondale Cup (Gr.2, 2400m) before the Auckland Cup he’d had some infections in his leg so he had 70-odd days between the Waikato Cup (Gr.3, 2400), which he won, and the Avondale Cup, and though the rider asked a lot of him he fought to the line and was only beaten a length-and-a-half.”

Pomare had originally planned to take Ocean Billy across the Tasman himself for the Cups but he has decided against that as it looked like he may not get a space in quarantine on returning to New Zealand until January, should the trans-Tasman bubble not open up.

“It’s really disappointing because I’m quite social with my horses and I like to enjoy the racing and for everyone around me to have a good day too,” he said.

Instead, Ocean Billy will join Chris Waller’s team, heading directly to Waller’s Melbourne stable.

“Chris offered to help and he’s also come up with a couple of good deals to help out with cost as well,” Pomare said.

“It’s the best stable in Australasia and he’d take any bit of advice. It’s hard for me to give a guy like him advice but I know the horse really well and there’s a few little things that he needs to know.

“Chris hasn’t won a Melbourne Cup yet so he’ll go all out to win this year. He’ll have more than two horses in it but he’ll be going really hard.”

Pomare said Damien Thornton is the front-runner to get the mount on Ocean Billy in Melbourne. – NZ Racing Desk

Visit the profile page for Ocean Park

Ocean Park in upcoming sales:
Advertisment
More Reading...
Kiwi Bred Evaporate Wins G3 Sandown Stakes
Smart four-year-old Evaporate bounced back from a setback to win Saturday’s Gr.3 Sandown Stakes (1500m) in gallant fashion, defeating favourite Transatlantic by a nose.
Sires With Winners - Friday September 26
Here is the full list of 60 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Sires With Winners - Sunday September 28
Here is the full list of 73 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Sires With Winners - Saturday September 27
Here is the full list of 106 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
Golden Rose Colts – Sires of the Future
The $1million Group I ATC Golden Rose (1400m) this Saturday offers the winner far more than prizemoney and assuming it’s a colt he is given a golden ticket to a commercial stud career, so let’s take a look at this year’s contenders, who would you want on your stallion roster in 2026?
Waterford Wins G2 Shannon Stakes
Talented import Waterford (IRE) has long promised to win a stakes race and he did the job in spectacular fashion at Rosehill on Saturday when scoring a dominant win in the $300,000 Group II ATC Shannon Stakes (1500m).
Inglis Ready2Race Purchase Headed to $3million Big Dance
Sales for two year-olds in training are looming on the horizon for all three auction houses and the $150,000 Dubbo Gold Cup (1600m) on Sunday has eligibility for the $3million Big Dance for the winner and it was progressive Exceedance 4YO Cristal Clear, who claimed the prize.
Record-Breaking Weetwood Win To Dundeel’s Tavs
Having not raced since fourth in the Listed BRC Spear Chief Handicap (1500m) during the Brisbane Winter Carnival, the Mark Currie trained Tavs (Dundeel) resumed from a spell to record his first black type victory, winning the Listed Weetwood (1200m) at Toowoomba on Saturday in track record time.
30 Runners in Goffs Million!
The stage is set for Europe’s richest two-year-old race, the Goffs Million (7f), which has attracted a maximum field of 30 runners at the Curragh this Saturday and the €1 million contest, with prize money down to 10th, is only open to graduates of last year’s Goffs Orby Sale.
€1.9million Sale-Topping Colt Wins G3 Somerville Stakes
The Group III Somerville Stakes (7f) was run at Newmarket overnight with the Godolphin blue carried by exciting Night of Thunder colt Distant Storm, who they purchased for a sale-topping €1.9million at the Arqana May Breeze Up Sale earlier this year.