The Willow ready to run wild at Blenheim
Matt Markham - Raceform • January 16th, 2025 4:30 PM
The two men behind the rehabilitation and success that has been Wild Willow have a scary admission to make for their rivals ahead of this weekend’s country cup racing action at Blenheim.
And allowing that Warren Stapleton and his son Deane don’t often get to deal with horses who are 100 per cent sound and healthy, it’s a warning that punters will want to listen to.
Given the horse to train after a run of injury issues, Wild Willow heads north from Canterbury this weekend in potentially the best condition of his career, both in terms of fitness and overall health.
“He’s as good as we’ve ever had him,” Deane Stapleton told RaceForm. “Soundness wise, he’s about as close to perfect as you would like and his work since the Motukarara run last time has been exceptionally good.”
That Motukarara performance is worth mentioning too. A sixth behind Tanzania might look just okay on paper, but given how much talk there’s been about the effort for fourth of Vessem, the fact that Wild Willow came from as far back as the Derby runner-up was impressive.
“He was huge that day,” Stapleton added. “It just ended up being one of those races where not much happened and we couldn’t get into the race at any point, but you couldn’t not be happy with the way he found the line.”
That effort followed on from a big fourth behind Auckland Cup winner Better Eclipse in the Methven Green Mile, so the five-year-old son of Art Major has been in elite company ahead of his trip to Blenheim this weekend.
“He’ll be better on the second day no doubt, but you’d like to think he’ll still be pretty hard to beat on Friday too given the way he’s been going.”
Ricky May will jump behind the gelding once again in a Dennis Denuto Marlborough Cup Prelude field that doesn’t lack for quality.
Wild Willow is one of a big team of horses the Stapletons will take north, including talented pacer Renaldo, who like Wild Willow began his career under the care of Mark Purdon.
“He’s a really nice horse but we’re going in fresh on day one and we have drawn the outside of the second row, so he’ll need a bit of luck and will improve off it for day two.”
Scarlett’s Legacy is a newcomer from the Gavin Smith stable, bringing strong grass track credentials and his work has been good leading into this week too. May will also drive Scarlett’s Legacy, while Kimberly Butt takes the reins on Renaldo.
Of all the team though, it’s lower grade pacer Ivona Dadic who Stapleton is most keen to see step out on Friday.
“We’ve taken the ear plugs off and gone with the blinds on this week, and I think it will make all the difference,” he said.
“Not much has gone right recently, but we’re turning the corner slowly and she shouldn’t be too far away from them if the best version turns up.”
Picture at the Top of the Page: Smart pacer Wild Willow looks the horse to beat in Friday’s Marlborough Cup Prelude at Blenheim. Photo: Supplied
