Three in a row for Ocean Bay

New Zealand import Ocean Bay (NZ) (Vanbrugh) continued her unbeaten campaign with a third straight win in the A$80,000 Ladbrokes Popular SRM Handicap (1600m) at Sandown on Saturday.

The Gavin Bedggood-trained four-year-old had scored a first-up win over 1300m at Bendigo on July 30, then repeated that result over 1547m at Geelong on August 28.

Ridden by Daniel Stackhouse on Saturday from the outside gate in a field of 10, Ocean Bay slotted into a handy position in fourth and one off the rail.

Stackhouse hooked Ocean Bay to the outside at the top of the straight, and she soon drew up alongside the front-running Jenni Gone Bonkers (Maurice). That rival kept finding through the last 200m, but Ocean Bay edged away to score by a length and a quarter.

“She just seems to be getting better and better every time she steps out to the races, which is so good,” Stackhouse said.

“We drew an awkward barrier, but we were positive, we got into a lovely spot and she switched off nicely.

“We got that cover from the wind, and then I just peeled her a bit early, so she was right on top of them, and she was really strong through the line.

“For where she's come from, racing in New Zealand, to three wins in a row here in Melbourne is a very good training effort. Big credit to Gavin Bedggood and his team and all the owners.”

Ocean Bay has now had eight starts for four wins and A$95,182 in stakes.

She began her career in New Zealand, where she was trained by the late Anne Herbert and was a winner on debut at Timaru in October of last year. She finished fourth and sixth in her other two New Zealand appearances before relocating to Australia.

In her first Australian campaign, Ocean Bay finished seventh and ninth in two starts at Pakenham in February and March. She has come back much more impressively in her second Australian preparation.

“She didn’t have any issues in that first campaign with us, she just went to the races and performed poorly,” Bedggood said. “That wasn't what was replicated at home, so I just said we've got to hit reset and start again.

“She’s a mare that hasn't got a great constitution, she doesn't carry a lot of condition.

“I would never have thought of running her eight days apart, we had given her a good break between her first and second-up run, and I threw in a nom for this race. I said to the owners yesterday that if it wasn't coming up Soft6 or worse this morning, we wouldn't be starting her. But she’d had a really good week, hence we lined up today.

“She doesn't do a lot of work, we just try and keep her happy and it's been a good result today.

“I haven’t even contemplated what we’ll do next. I just wanted to get through today, and we will let her tell us.

“She got pretty warm in the yard today. She may even deserve a week down at the beach or something like that, but she'll get a nice green paddock during the day.”

Ocean Bay was bred by her part-owner Toni Croon and is by Vanbrugh out of the Deputy Governor mare Ysabella Brave (NZ). Herself a four-race winner, Contemplation Bay (NZ) is the dam of four winners from five foals to race including six-race winner Contemplation Bay and the talented Ikidunot (NZ), who has won two of his five starts.