Richard Laming’s decision to scratch Name Dropper from a A$27,000 midweek race at Sale paid dividends when the Kiwi-bred gelding took on city company at Sandown on Saturday and maintained his unbeaten record.
The son of Tavistock won his only previous start, which was a 1400m maiden race at Eagle Farm last August. After 10 months on the sidelines, he returned to action on Saturday, mastered the step up in class for the A$80,000 Vale Fr Brendan Dillon (1400m) and remained undefeated.
Name Dropper was sent forward by jockey Ethan Brown in the early stages of Saturday’s race and took up a position in second on the outside of the front-running Vail Mountain.
Brown still had a tight hold on Name Dropper when he cruised up alongside the leader with 400m remaining, and he surged ahead of that rival halfway down the home straight. Snappy Secret and El Rocko produced strong late finishes and got close, but Name Dropper held on for a narrow but convincing win.
“That was a very good effort,” Laming said. “I thought his inexperience could bring him undone today, but he has plenty of class, which took him a long way.
“He’s always shown very good ability, but he’s just been a bit slow-maturing. Our patience is starting to pay off.
“I was pretty impressed with what he did there today. He took on some horses with a lot more experience than him, and he dug deep when he was challenged down the straight.
“He’s still maturing. He’s a typical Tavistock, a typical New Zealand-bred that’s going to get up over ground a bit later on. I think he’s going to be an exciting stayer.
“He’s bred to go a lot further, so to do that over 1400m today and show a turn of foot, there’s exciting times ahead for him.
“We’ll just take things one step at a time with him for now. He can go up to a mile next, and we’ll just keep chipping away and bring him through the grades. Hopefully, around this time next year, we might have him up in Brisbane and thinking about the spring as well.”
Name Dropper’s two-start, two-win career has so far earned A$66,000 in stakes for his ownership group.
Bred by Standard 2080 Ltd, Name Dropper is out of the O’Reilly mare Mandy O’Reilly, whose three winners from four foals to race include the Group Three-placed Miss Mandito. Mandy O’Reilly is a half-sister to the stakes performers and black-type producers Dating and Miracle Miss.
Mandy O’Reilly produced Ocean Park colts in 2021 and 2022. She was covered by Proisir in 2022 but died prior to foaling. – NZ Racing Desk.
