Spring Prep Starts for Auckland Cup Winner

Trainer Bill Pomare is eagerly awaiting a visit from the local farrier this week as the signal his stable star and family favourite Ocean Billy (Ocean Park-Cool Storm, by One Cool Cat) is ready to take the first step on the road to a potentially life-changing event later this year. Put aside by his trainer in March, the Gr1 Auckland Cup (3200m) winner is embarking on a spring campaign that could see him take his place in November’s Gr1 Melbourne Cup (3200m). According to NZ Racing Desk, Ocean Billy returns to the stable this week. Pomare revealed, “He’s put on a fair bit of weight, although he has been running around and doing a bit of pre-training on his own accord. He’s such a clean winded horse that it won’t take much to get him going again.” The trainer surprisingly said, “I also think he has grown up a bit as even though he was a 5YO when he won the Auckland Cup, I still think he was a little immature physically and mentally.” Pomare concedes that at his age – he’s in his early seventies – this represents what will probably be his last chance of achieving the dream of having a Melbourne Cup runner. “I know for me and my family it would be the ultimate result regardless of how he performed on the day… I will be speaking to the Victorian handicapper to get a gauge on where we would sit in the handicap and qualifying status and then working the program back from there.”

Ocean Billy won the Gr1 Auckland Cup (pic: Trish Dunell)