Metal Bender Back With A Bang (May 10 2010)

The good times continue to roll for WS who were credited with their 11th individual stakes winner for the season when Metal Bender bolted away with Saturday's Gr 2 A.D Hollindale Stakes. His commanding Gold Coast success capped an outstanding return from serious injury after being sidelined for nearly a year with a leg problem.

Metal Bender was purchased for $A160,000 out of the Matamata farm's 2007 Sydney Easter Sale draft by the late Jack Denham and completed the Gr 1 Randwick-Rosehill Guineas double last season. The son of Danasinga was forced out of work after finishing runner-up in the Gr 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes last autumn.

He has returned under the guidance of Sydney trainer Chris Waller and bounced back to winning form in his third appearance from his new quarters. "They would have been lining up to get him," Waller said. "He came to me in good shape. The Denhams made him and he's a very good horse. It was a privilege to be asked."

The four-year-old will now chase another Gr 1 victory in the upcoming Doomben Cup. "After that we'll give him a break and get him ready for the spring." Metal Bender has six wins and two placings from his 12 starts and his Hollindale victory took his earnings beyond the $A1 million mark.

WS sold a half-brother to Metal Bender by stud resident Savabeel to high-profile trainer Graeme Rogerson at this year's Sydney Easter Sale for $A110,000. Their dam, the Bluebird mare Jacqwin, is a half-sister to Gr 1 Goodwood winner and successful sire Keeper.

Meanwhile, WS also weighed in with a winner at the Rotorua meeting where the promising First Date collected the second victory of her five-start career. Trained by Lance Noble at Matamata, the daughter of No Excuse Needed is from the Gr 1 family of The Pooka (NZ 2000 Guineas) and Rubiscent (Underwood Stakes) and was a $40,000 buy at Karaka in 2008.