When South Island breeders Grant and Philippa McKenzie decided on a short trip to Melbourne, they never dreamt they would end up on the dais at Flemington.
"We decided to head across to Melbourne to see Rod Stewart and to see Black Caviar. So I rang my good friend Mark Chittick of Waikato Stud to see if he knew how we might go about getting some tickets for Flemington," said Grant.
"Well he got back to me and said he had jacked up some tickets and that he hoped we would bring him luck, as we would actually be representing Waikato Stud as the owners of Shopaholic (Pins) who was in the Gr.3 Vanity."
Haven run second in the race with the WS bred and raced horses Do Ra Mi (Savabeel) last year and with Be Delicious (Danasinga) five years earlier, the McKenzie's appeared to provide plenty of just that as the Danny O'Brien-conditioned Shopaholic downed the $1.40 hotpot Mosheen in the final bound.
"It was a great run," observed Grant.
"She was being hammered on both sides from Mosheen and Angel of Mercy, but in that final 100m she just bullocked her way through and got up in the very last stride."
As the successful owners of the Gr.3 Wakefield Challenge Stakes winner Zablinka (Zabeel), the occasion was not lost on the McKenzie's.
"I never dreamt that on our first trip to Flemington, we would end up on the dais accepting a trophy or that we would be sipping champagne in Flemington's Presidents Lounge!"
"To be honest, we felt very privileged to simply be in the parade ring before the race, let alone in the winner's circle. It was a bit of a dream really".
Successful WS - Danny O'Brien Combination Continues
The combination of Waikato Stud and Victoria trainer Danny O'Brien added a whole new tier to its successful relationship on Saturday.
Since the dual Gr.1 winning relationship forger Glamour Puss in 2004, the Melbourne conditioner and the WS bred and raced product has toasted to black-type success with such horses as Glam Slam, Breezy, Be Delicious, Sparkling Satine and Splashing Out.
It's a combo made all the more pre-potent when considering the WS-bred likes of Keano, Vigor and Escadaire, who have all provided black-type reward for O'Brien's clients.
On Saturday, the new chapter dawned when Shopaholic - a Pins a daughter of the aforementioned racemare Splashing Out, took out the Gr.3 Vanity Stakes (1410m) at Flemington.
"I was absolutely thrilled with Shopaholic's win," said O'Brien. "It's the first time that we've won a stakes race with a daughter of a filly that we also won a stakes race with. It's just great to see Splashing Out, who won Caulfield's Gr. 3 Thoroughbred Club Stakes (1200m) for us, go home and become a successful broodmare at first attempt. I got a real buzz out of it."
Looking back, the parallels between the two are clear for O'Brien.
"They are both very genuine. They aren't overly big, but they are tough and they try hard. Importantly, both share plenty of ability and are high class individuals," he said.
Looking ahead, O'Brien reports that Shopaholic pulled up well and could potentially back up in this weekend's Gr.2 Angus Armanasco Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, before making an assault on the Gr.2 Kewney Stakes in March.
With a proven black-type association and targets ahead such as this, O'Brien is understandably excited about times ahead.
"I've always really enjoyed training for Waikato. We've had a lot of fun together and I really look forward to this next generation."
Pins (pictured) has half a dozen youngsters entered for the 2012 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale that are sure to prove popular.
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