Ken Casellas | Photo: Hamilton Content Creators
Dylan Egerton-Green continued his rise to prominence as a talented trainer when he won both the $30,000 Western Crown feature events at Gloucester Park on Friday night.
He drove both two-year-olds to victory in the space of 30 minutes, with Cork Can Run scoring a comfortable all-the-way victory in the Western Crown for colts and geldings, and Nase Vira leading and holding on for a narrow win in the feature race for fillies.
The double took Egerton-Green’s training record this season to 25 wins and 34 placings from 106 starters and boosted his career record to 175 winners.
The double also illustrated the great skill breeder Rob Tomlison has of identifying broodmare talent.
Tomlinson, who races bother youngsters under the banner of his Oz-West Pacing and in partnership with several long-standing stable clients, purchased the dams of Cork Can Run and Nase Vira when they were promising four-year-olds.
He bought Millview Sienna in 2017 after she had raced 24 times in New Zealand for five wins and three placings. She then won another seven races in Australia, including the Group 1 $125,000 Westral Mares Classic in December 2018 when she was a $90.90 outsider for trainer Ray Williams and reinsman Aldo Cortopassi, winning by a head from Eden Franco.
Millview Sienna was retired with 12 wins and $157,330 from 53 starts, and Cork Can Run is her only foal to date. Cork Can Run is by American stallion Sportswriter and he has raced three times for two wins, one second and stakes of $23,913.
Nase Vira is by former champion pacer Alta Christiano and is the second foal out of the Live Or Die mare Sovereign Faith, who raced 75 times for 15 wins, 14 placings and stakes of $132,719.
Sovereign Faith was bought by Tomlinson in 2013 after she had raced 20 times for four wins and five placings in New Zealand. She then won a further seven races in New South Wales before ending her career in WA with four wins and ten placings from 24 starts in 2015 and 2016 when trained by Williams and driven by Nathan Turvey.
Nase Vira is the second foal out of Sovereign Faith, with her first foal Champagne Everyone winning for Egerton-Green at Gloucester Park last Tuesday to improve her record to 25 starts for five wins, seven placings and $52,261 in prizemoney.
Cork Can Run was the $1.10 favourite from the No. 3 barrier on Friday night when he took the lead after 250m and set a solid pace before sprinting over the final quarters in 28.7sec. and 29sec. to win by a length from the $13 second fancy Brought To Life, who battled on gamely after racing in the breeze. Cork Can Run rated 1.56.5 over the 1730m.
“Cork Can Run raced very well, even though he didn’t perform as well as he should have,” said Egerton-Green. “He had 17 days between runs and got away from me a bit. He was a bit lazy.”
Nase Vira was the $2.60 favourite from barrier three when she set the pace and was three lengths clear of her closest rival 500m from home before holding on to win by a head from the $6 second fancy Miss Hepburn, who finished determinedly after racing in the one-out, one-back position. The winner rated 1.57.5 and took her record to one win from three starts for stakes of $18,564.
“Nase Vira got away really good and was able to hold out Princess Katie at the start. She switched off a bit in the late stages,” said Egerton-Green.
“Cork Can Run and Nase Vira will now go for a spell before being prepared for two-year-old feature events later in the year, including the $225,000 Westbred Classics in September.”