Story by Racing & Breeding News
Smart four-year-old mare Gin
Martini (NZ) (Rip Van Winkle)
claimed a deserved Group Three
victory when successful in the Epona
Stakes (1900m) at Rosehill on Saturday.
The New Zealand-bred daughter
of Rip Van Winkle travelled three-wide
throughout under Damian Lane and
after presenting widest at the top of the
straight, pulled out too many stops to
defy Thalassophile (Not A Single Doubt)
by a long neck, with Douceur (No Nay
Never) three-quarters of a length away
in third.
Prepared by John Sargent, Gin
Martini is proven out to 3200m, having
won the Listed Sandown Cup (3200m)
last spring, while she was placed in
the Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) last
season.
Sargent believes the mare has
matured further this preparation.
“The trip to Melbourne for the
Sandown Cup at Caulfield really
brought her on a lot more. She is
getting to her peak now,” he said.
“Three-wide in the open and I
actually thought she’d be at her peak
next start, but all dues to Damian
(Lane). He knew what he was doing and
she just keeps giving,”
Sargent will now likely target the
Gr.2 Chairman’s Quality (2600m) at
Randwick on April 1.
“She is coming up really strong
this time in,” Sargent said. “I’d say the
Chairman’s looks a nice race over
2600m with no weight in a couple of
weeks, especially if its wet.
Expat Kiwi horseman Sargent is
renowned for his affinity with fillies and
mares and he has again worked the
oracle with Gin Martini.
“You probably don’t have to train
them as hard as the others, just keep
them happy, pretty much like your
wife,” he said.
Bred by Bree Baddiley And Sons Ltd,
Gin Martini was purchased out of Dave
Duley’s Landsdowne Park draft at the
2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Book
1 Yearling Sale by Tricolours Racing &
Syndications for $40,000.
The well-named mare is out of the
Red Ransom mare Tanqueray (NZ),
who is also the dam of stakes-placed filly
Nothin’ on Me, a daughter of Not A
Single Doubt. – NZ Racing Desk
