War Princess chasing Hastings hat-trick
War Princess (NZ) (U S Navy Flag) will be out to complete a clean sweep of the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival when she contests Saturday’s Gr.3 Timberspan Spring Sprint (1400m) at Hastings.
The daughter of U S Navy Flag has made a perfect start to her four-year-old season, winning over 1200m and 1300m at the first two meetings of the carnival for Awapuni trainers Peter and Trent Didham.
“We always planned to go all three days at Hastings, and to get the first two wins was very good,” Trent Didham said.
War Princess enjoyed a productive three-year-old campaign, highlighted by victory in the Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) at Trentham and a runner-up finish in the Listed O’Learys Fillies’ Stakes (1200m).
She also finished fourth in the Listed Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) before an interrupted run in the NZB Kiwi (1500m) brought her campaign to a close.
“She has really strengthened up all over and acts accordingly, pulling you all around the place,” Didham said. “She’s a strong mare now.
“The end goal has always been to get more black type with her to increase her value for when she retires.”
With seven wins from just 13 starts, War Princess has proven effective on a range of surfaces and is expected to again race prominently.
“She generally sits on the pace,” Didham said. “She had that one run at Tauranga when she came from behind, but she usually puts herself thereabouts and toughs it out to the end.”
Stablemate Omega Boy (NZ) (Time Test) will also line up in the Spring Sprint, with improvement expected following his unplaced first-up effort in the Gr.3 Metric Mile (1600m) at Trentham.
“He wasn’t really race-ready, and the mile first-up was a big ask,” Didham said.
“He has taken a bit longer to come up and we’ve struggled to get the weight off him.
“Hopefully, back to 1400 metres on a better track will see him finish off well late.”
Meanwhile, fellow stablemate Shameless Star (NZ) (Shmaexpress), a four-time winning daughter of Shamexpress who shares the same ownership as War Princess, is progressing well towards a return to racing.
“She’s back in the barn and might head to the trials in three or four weeks,” Didham said.
