3 minute read

The father-son training partnership of Ian and Nick Hay have waited a long time for their mare Skilendra to finally deliverer and this time in the six-year-old has excelled.

In Brief

• Four wins from last five starts impressive.
• Daughter of Dragila finaly makes her mark.
• Training partnership reaping rewards for hard work.

In Devonport last Sunday the talented mare made it four wins from her last five starts on the synthetic track, a love affair that did not exist when she first started racing.

On Sunday Skilendra produced her usual trait of coming from off the pace to power over the top of her rivals and this latest win was arguably her most impressive in the Sheridan Construction Benchmark 62 Handicap over 1650m.

Prior to this preparation the six-year-old had only raced on the Devonport circuit twice for a fifth and a third but they were her first two starts in August two years ago.

She managed two wins on the Hobart circuit but before this latest preparation connections had avoided racing her on the synthetic surface.

"It is great that the mare has strung a few wins together, but it's always pleasing when they are winning," Ian Hay said after the win.

"It is also good to have Chelsea (Baker) on the horse because she is a terrific young rider with so much talent."

Baker has ridden Skilendra at her past six outings giving her a tremendous winning strike rate of 66 per cent on the daughter of Skilled.

Skilendra is from Catendra that is an unraced daughter of the Hay's former star galloper Dragila that also has made an impact at stud.

Dragila (x Encosta de Lago) won a Group 3 Bow Mistress Stakes in 2004 and at stud she produced Isibaeva (x Johannesburg) that also won a Bow Mistress in 2014 and both mares were ridden by David Pires.

Skilendra has not shown the ability of her grand-dam or relation, but she has proven to be a very good bread and butter stable tenant winning six and placing nine times from 25 starts for $112,500 in stakes.

It's great to see the training partnership enjoying consistent success, a reward for all their hard work.