The domination of the South Island summer three-year-old features by the John & Karen Parsons trained pair of Residential and Starvoia continued at Wingatui on Saturday when the duo combined to quinella the Listed NZB Insurance Stakes (1400m).
It was the third consecutive quinella in a stakes event by the pair with Residential proving dominant once again as she made it three wins in a row and five from a 11 start career to date.
Jogoo steadily improved his mount to be camped behind the leaders on the home bend and ready to pounce. Starvoia shot to the front with 200 metres to go and looked likely to gain revenge on Residential however she had to settle for the runner-up position once more as her stablemate dashed past her in the shadows of the post to claim the victory.
Co-trainer Karen Parsons admitted she thought Residential had blown her chances of victory once she was slowly away.“I saw them jump and when she was slow I did think that’s it you won’t be winning from there,” she said.
“There is so little between them that when Starvoia had that advantage early in the race I thought she might hold the other filly out but to her credit Residential dug in and produced a very gutsy effort.“She’s just learning all the time and has really come a long way in a short period.”
Parsons was also thrilled by the performance of Starvoia who had been hampered in her build-up to the race.“She has had a few foot problems in the last week which probably told on her in the last 100 metres,” she advised.
“She’s still a very classy filly and I’ve said all along that they are both a year away from their peak so it’s exciting to think where they could get to next season.”The stablemates are likely to clash again in the two final legs of the New Zealand Bloodstock Southern Filly of the Year series, the Listed NZB Airfreight Stakes (1600m) at Riccarton on 8 April followed by the NZB Warstep Stakes (2000m) at the same venue a fortnight later.
