Cliff Matson’s blue and white silks have featured frequently in the winner’s enclosure of late and his run of success continued on Sunday at Te Aroha.
The Auckland-based businessman has a number of horses based with the in-form Wexford Stables, with his recent winners Texas Hold ‘Em and Sax ‘n’ Silks joined by Dua Dance and Jungleland at the meeting.
A filly by recent Everest winner Yes Yes Yes, Dua Dance was having her fifth race-day appearance for trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, favoured to be an improver off a last-start seventh to subsequent Group Three placegetter She’s Untouchable.
In the hands of Masa Hashizume, Dua Dance was eased back to the tail of the field early in the Shackerell Electrical (1150m) and came right to the outside turning for home, showing a sharp closing sprint to run down Transatlantic by a nose.
Wexford Stables selected Dua Dance out of Little Avondale Stud’s draft at the 2023 Karaka Yearling Sales for $115,000, and taking a liking to the compact filly, Matson elected to take the majority share, with Katrina Dansted and prominent owner Ben Kwok also among her ownership group.
“He (Matson) breeds horses, buys them at the sales and just loves the game,” Scott said. “He loves winning and does really well.
“We bought Dua Dance as a yearling and she’s a filly with a good load of talent, but she’s just taken a while to learn her trade. She’s starting to relax now and she’s got a beautiful strong finish, which was great to see on Sunday.
“It fulfilled our hopes of what ability we felt she had, and now, she’ll just keep growing in confidence with the win. She’s certainly got black-type ability, but she’s just lacked the confidence to relax in the run.
“She’s away now.”
Matson has also delved into the breeding space under his Lanford Investments banner for a number of years, with Jungleland the final foal out of his Opren mare Morton Babe.
A four-year-old by Tarzino, Jungleland relished the step-up in distance in the Manco (1600m) and was prominent early under Craig Grylls, settling one-back on the fence. Coming off the rail on the corner, Jungleland started to go through his gears down the straight and kept finding, holding out Chuckle’s Daughter to score by a long neck.
Scott indicated that time has been a friend to the gelding, crediting Matson’s patience in allowing him to develop through his three-year-old term.
“He’s been a gelding that lacked a bit of physical strength at three, and now he’s that year older, he’s a real Kiwi staying horse in the making,” he said.
“He’s got the strength to quicken and he’ll only continue to get better with age. He’s got the right kind of owner in Cliff, who has the patience to bring him through.
“He’s got a good staying future as an older horse.”
Jungleland has some stellar middle-distance bloodlines with Morton Babe a half-sister to champion race-mare Silent Achiever. A race winner herself, Morton Babe has been a successful producer in the broodmare paddock, with eight of her nine foals to race being winners, among those a multiple-Group Three placegetter in Cruiser.