8 Jan 2022Cambridge Stud graduate Our Hail Mary showcased her fighting qualities when she produced a gritty display to add to her black-type tally at Awapuni.
The daughter of Ocean Park raced one off the fence close to the pace, but was niggled at before the turn before rallying bravely under the urging of Johnathan Parkes to claim the Listed Marton Cup.
“I told him she would probably hit a flat spot somewhere in the race and to try and just ride through it,” said trainer Allan Sharrock, who has the mare on a path toward the G2 Auckland Cup.
“She wasn’t really going any good around the turn, but he never gave up and really lifted her to victory.
“It was a tenacious effort by the mare, aided by a superb ride.”
The well-related Our Hail Mary has now won eight of her 20 starts with her career highlight to date a Group 3 success in the Trentham Stakes, a title she may defend next weekend.
The mare was a $35,000 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale purchase for Sharrock in 2017 and the following year he also bought the dam Repenting for $5000 when she was offered at the May Sale.
Repenting is a sister to Sharrock’s multiple Group 1 winner Shez Sinsational, ironically the dam of the Marton Cup runner-up House Of Cartier.