Having a Group One winner as a half-sister is a hard act to follow, but Ladies Man (NZ) (Zed) took a big step in the right direction with his first stakes win in Saturday's $100,000 Group Three Mode Technology Trentham Stakes (2100m).

Trainer Allan Sharrock paid $60,000 to secure Ladies Man from Grangewilliam Stud's draft in Book 2 of Karaka 2019, and the New Plymouth trainer has now saddled the gelding in 15 races for five wins, six placings and $130,467 in prizemoney.

Sharrock knows Ladies Man's bloodlines well, having previously trained his half-sister Ladies First (NZ) (Dylan Thomas). Bought for only $8000 from Karaka in 2014, she won nine races and more than $500,000, headed by the Group One Auckland Cup (3200m) in 2018.

Sharrock has always believed that Ladies Man possesses similar talent, and on Saturday he stepped up to the plate with his biggest win yet.

With jockey Craig Grylls in the saddle, Ladies Man launched a withering run down the Trentham straight, reeling in the front-running Sagunto (NZ) (O'Reilly) and scoring by a half-neck. The winner's stablemate, defending Trentham Stakes champion Waisake (NZ) (Zed), was the same margin away in third.

"He (Ladies Man) is in the Wellington Cup (3200m) later in the month, and he is a big chance to win it," Sharrock said. "I think I can improve the horse – he has had a rough week with a few things that have gone wrong, so that was a good run.

"It was also a massive run by Waisake, who has never raced that handy before, but you put old magic hands on (Opie Bosson) and he travelled beautifully.

"He will improve too and you know one (Waisake) gets the two miles and the other is bred to."

The Trentham Stakes was an all-Karaka trifecta, with runner-up Sagunto being a $120,000 purchase from the 2017 Premier Sale and Waisake costing just $1100 as a weanling and $28,000 at the 2016 Festival Sale. Sagunto now has total earnings of $234,446, while Waisake has banked $307,480.