Son Of Australia Captures Group 3 At Royal Ascot
Waipiro (3c Australia - London Plane, by Danehill Dancer) returned from a gallant performance in the Epsom Derby to run out a commanding winner of the Group 3 Hampton Court Stakes at Royal Ascot.
The Ed Walker-trained colt gained his maiden win impressively at Newmarket in April and followed up with a second in the Listed Derby Trial, before finishing sixth at Epsom. Dropping back to ten furlongs on Thursday, the son of Australia raced towards the back of the field under Tom Marquand and began to make good headway from the three furlong pole. Short of room a furlong later, he was ridden to lead approaching the final furlong and ran on strongly to score by two and a quarter lengths.
The win completed a double on the day for Marquand, who said, “This is magical, it couldn't get any better. In the Derby I got too far back and with how the race panned out he just didn't stay. But he is a good horse; it was as simple as that.”
Despite his high regard for Waipiro, Ed Walker came into the race with subdued expectations, he explained, “It’s without doubt the hardest place in the world to win races at, so we’re pleased to have been able to do so today. We were a bit worried about the closeness to the Derby; we had a lot of discussions about it. Not many horses run in the Derby and are able to perform 19 days later.”
Waipiro is owned by Pak-kwan Siu and was bred by Shane Molan out of a full-sister to Group performer Al Waab (Danehill Dancer). He becomes an 18th individual Group winner by Australia, for whom five have triumphed at Group 1 level.