Impressive win raises Wall Street's value

BY TIM BARTON

Jeff Lynds produced the sorcerer and his apprentice at Hastings on Saturday.

Vosne Romanee emphasised his position as the stable star by winning the Kelt Stakes but stablemate Wall Street could be a serious rival by the autumn.

Wall Street, the only favourite to return a dividend at the Hawke's Bay meeting, completed a hat-trick of wins when crushing his rivals in the rating 90 1600.

The Montjeu gelding bowed a tendon as an unraced three-year-old, when in the Moroney stable and has had only seven starts.

He was beaten at his first two starts, last year, but has had four wins and a second since.

The five-year-old is now a $4.50 favourite for the $250,000 Coupland's Mile at Riccarton, on November 11, and will have another leadup run in a rating 90 1600 at Trentham at Labour weekend.

"He's developing all the time," said Lynds who can see Wall Street being a contender for the 2010 Kelt Stakes. "He can sit on the pace and then accelerate and that's a sign of a good horse."

Wall Street races in the colours of Auckland owner Gerard Peterson, who is also a part-owner of Saturday's Spring Champion Stakes winner Monaco Consul.

Lynds had only three runners at Hastings and Swipe's failure in the opening race was the sole blemish in a near perfect day.

Lynds, 56, has been training for more than 30 years and has rarely been without a good horse.

Top juvenile Vin D'Amour was an early Group I winner, in 1984, and Marconee, Secret Seal, Trounced, Snazzy and Armstrong have all measured up in top company.

"I've had a string of good horses but no champions," Lynds said.

Secret Seal won the equivalent of the Kelt, when the race was known as the Ormond Stakes, in 1987 and finished sixth in the Caulfield Cup that year, after starting second favourite.

Marconee was the runner-up to Love Dance in the 1996 Kelt and Trounced also ran second in the Kelt, behind Cinder Bella, in 2001.

Marconee, who had seven wins and a second from his first eight starts, also won the Mudgway Stakes at Hastings and ran third in the Group I Caulfield Stakes, in Melbourne, and sixth in a Cox Plate.

Lynds is uncertain of immediate plans for Vosne Romanee but the seven-year-old is unlikely to be tried in Australia.

His earnings are now close to $1 million and he will have several suitable weight-for-age opportunities in the autumn, while the 2010 Kelt is a logical long term target.

- © Fairfax NZ News