Billy A Surprise Gr1 Tarzino Candidate

Melbourne Cup contender Ocean Billy's storming effort at Te Rapa has convinced trainer Bill Pomare to take on the weight-for-age gallopers again in the Gr1 Tarzino Trophy at Hastings on September 18. The run surprised many, but not Pomare. "I took him to a jumpout with three of Jamie Richards' good horses and he jumped and stayed with them all the way," revealed Pomare. "Normally he's slow out of the gates, but that effort gave me an inkling he'd run well at Te Rapa." The Gr1 Caulfield Cup and Gr1 Melbourne Cup are Ocean Billy's principal targets this spring, and Pomare had planned to run him next in an open 1600m event at Hastings on Tarzino day, however the effort at Te Rapa persuaded him to tackle the day's feature. "The way he finished over 1200m, he's still fresh enough to go a pretty mean 1400m, and he's going to be racing against similar horses to what he raced against on Saturday," Pomare enthused. According to NZ Racing Desk,Pomare had originally planned to take Ocean Billy (Ocean Park-Cool Storm, by One Cool Cat) across the Tasman himself for the Cups but he has decided against that as it looked like he may not get a space in quarantine on returning to New Zealand until January, should the trans-Tasman bubble not open up. Instead, Ocean Billy will join Chris Waller's team, heading directly to Waller's Melbourne stable.

Ocean Billy will tackle the Gr1 Tarzino next (pic: Trish Dunell)