Wissahickon followed up victories in an Aug. 14 handicap at Chelmsford City and in Newmarket's Sept. 29 Cambridgeshire H. with a first black-type score in the Dec. 22 Listed Quebec S. over this course and distance, and continued in similar vein with another polished success here. Penalised three pounds for that latest triumph and positioned in a stalking third for the most part, the odds-on chalk was boxed in full of run turning for home and quickened smartly once angled outside passing the eighth pole to double his stakes tally in nonchalant fashion.
“Wissahickon got in a box, but managed to conjure his way out,” reflected trainer John Gosden. “He has a good turn of foot, but he did well to quicken up from that position. The obvious plan is to go for the [Feb. 23 G3] Winter Derby [over course and distance]. He's a lovely horse and will probably end up racing in America come the fall and next year. He is a Tapit, so he is really going to suit the surfaces out there. He has run a lovely race today and enjoys this surface.”
Wissahickon is one of nine winners from as many runners out of GI Del Mar Oaks heroine No Matter What (Nureyev) and is kin to a quartet of stakes performers headed by MG1SW European champion Rainbow View (Dynaformer) and MGISP GIII Arlington H.-winning sire Just As Well (A.P. Indy). No Matter What has also produced the 2-year-old colt Repaupo (Quality Road), who ran second in all three starts last term, and a yearling colt by Temple City.
Saturday's Results:
BETWAY WINTER DERBY TRIAL S.-Listed, £45,000, Lingfield, 2-2, 4yo/up, 10f (AWT), 2:01.53, st.
1–WISSAHICKON, 129, c, 3, Tapit">Tapit–No Matter What (GISW-US
& SW-Fr, $185,726), by Nureyev. O-George Strawbridge;
B-Augustin Stable (KY); T-John Gosden; J-Lanfranco Dettori.
£25,520. Lifetime Record: 9-7-1-0, $265,374. *1/2 to Rainbow
View (Dynaformer), Ch. 2yo Filly-Eur, Hwt. 3yo Filly-Ire at
6.5-9.5f, G1SW-Eng & Ire, GSW-US & GISP-Can, $1,129,814;
Just As Well (A.P. Indy), GSW & MGISP-US, $859,582; Utley
(Smart Strike), GSW-US & SP-Eng, $466,598; and Winter View
(Thunder Gulch), GSW-US, $328,909.
2–Big Country (Ire), 126, g, 6, High Chaparral (Ire)–Mount Eliza
(Ire), by Danehill. (28,000gns 3yo '16 TATAHI; 130,000gns RNA
4yo '17 TATAHI). O-The Horse Watchers. £9,675.
3–Court House (Ire), 126, c, 4, Dawn Approach (Ire)–Crossanza
(Ire), by Cape Cross (Ire). (€38,000 RNA Wlg '15 GOFNOV;
€200,000 Ylg '16 GOFORB). O-HRH Princess Haya of Jordan.
£4,842.
Margins: 3/4, 2 1/4, 2. Odds: 0.50, 5.00, 5.00.
Also Ran: Chiefofchiefs (GB), Abe Lincoln, In the Lope (Ire), Main Street (GB), Time To Study (Fr). Click for the Racing Post result. Video, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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