Wilander Serves It Up

On the same day that the men’s final of the Australian Tennis Open was held, January 27th, it was appropriate for Wilander to demolish his rivals at Ballarat. The exciting two year old is by Exceed and Excel out of the Snippets mare Scandinavia, and having his first start he spaced the maiden field to win by 8 lengths.

Trained by Lee Freedman, Wilander is a ¾ brother to the Group 1 winning sprinter Magnus who will line up tomorrow in the Coolmore Lightning Stakes at Flemington. Ridden with confidence by Matthew Allen, the Rockmount pretrainer and speller stopped the clock at 1:03.84 for the 1100 metre trip and bookmakers have slashed his odds for the Blue Diamond Stakes, the first 2 year old Group 1race for the season.

Darley’s representative John Ferguson signed the docket for Wilander at the Sydney Easter sales last year for $625,000 outbidding Magnus’ trainer Peter Moody. The win of Wilander provided his first season sire with his fourth individual winner for the season.