8 Nov 2008
The regally-bred galloper,
Stand Tall (Zabeel x Grand Archway), confirmed his favouritism with a fine win in the Group 3 Gold Club Metropolitan Trophy (2500m) at Riccarton on Saturday.
Stand Tall is trained at New Plymouth by John Wheeler and Saturday's win has brought the seven-year-old right to the forefront of calculations for next Saturday's Group 2 New Zealand Cup (3200m) at Riccarton.
Stand Tall has had a few issues with jarring up after his races but Wheeler reports he has come through his latest win in tip-top order.
Stand Tall's dam, Grand Archway (by Archway), was a multiple Group 1 winner with her successes including the Group 1 VRC Oaks at Flemington. She also won the Group 1 Australian Stakes and Group 1 Australian Oaks.
Grand Archway has also left the stakes winner Seul Amour who is a brother to Stand Tall.
Zabeel has sired 115 individual stakes winners during his career at stud.