2016 Vinery Stud Stakes: Single Gaze Wins

Single Gaze delivered Canberra trainer Nick Olive a maiden win at Group 1 level with a very brave win in the 2016 Vinery Stud Stakes at Rosehill Gardens this afternoon.

Kathy O'Hara was thrilled to have taken out the 2016 Vinery Stud Stakes on Single Gaze. Photo by: Steve Hart

Kathy O’Hara was thrilled to have taken out the 2016 Vinery Stud Stakes on Single Gaze. Photo by: Steve Hart

Single Gaze took out the Group 3 Keith Nolan Classic (1600m) at Kembla Grange last start, but there was little betting interest in the Not A Single Doubt filly and the consensus opinion was that she would struggle to run out a strong 2000 metres.

Jockey Kathy O’Hara produced Single Gaze at the perfect time after getting a beautiful run in transit and she held-off Valley Girl and a fast-finishing Happy Hannah to deliver Olive the biggest win of his racing career to date.

O’Hara has developed an outstanding partnership with Single Gaze as well as her trainer Nick Olive and the in-form hoop was clearly delighted to have helped the young trainer claim a maiden win at the highest level of racing.

“I am just so excited to win on this filly in a Group 1,” O’Hara said.

“It means so much to me and I can’t even imagine what Nick and the owners are like back in there.

“She is just such a trier this little horse and she did it tough.

“She was outside the leader and got a bit of cover midrace, but she was so strong.

“I am just so wrapped for Nick and it is just unbelievable to win it for him.

“I’ve had a bit to do with this filly, I won her first start, I’ve ridden her mother and it just means so much.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am.”

Olive was lost for words after the Vinery Stud Stakes and it was clear that the fact that he was not a Group 1 winning trainer was yet to sink in.

He revealed after the race that he was always confident that Single Gaze would run out a strong 2000 metres and he admitted that he had an uneasy confidence heading into the Vinery Stud Stakes.

“It is unbelievable and it is just fantastic,” Oliver said.

“She is such a good filly, she is just so gutsy and everything she does she just takes a forward step.

“She has never taken a backwards step ever in her life and she has been unlucky in a lot of her runs.

“Today she got the luck and she brained them.

“It was a great ride by Kath.

“I said to the owners that I have just been so confident all week, even relaxed almost and I said to the guys that she will be better over 2000 than she was a mile.

“Everybody else didn’t think that she would run it, but we were super confident.”

Valley Girl franked the form coming out of New Zealand to finish a close second, while Happy Hannah savaged the line in the final stages in what was a perfect trial for the Australian Oaks.

About The Author

Thomas Hackett

Thomas is a passionate and opinionated racing journalist and punter who has been obsessed with horse racing since he backed Saintly to win the 1996 Melbourne Cup. An international racing enthusiast, he has his finger on the pulse of racing news not just from Australia but all around the world.