Saluting at Randwick on Saturday in the Group II ATC Villiers Stakes was classy stayer Sense of Occasion, an $80,000 Inglis Easter purchase for Beamish Bloodstock from the draft of Yarraman Park. The Kris Lees trained son of Street Sense (USA) was competitive in all of the big staying Sydney spring features and was having his first run following a let up of nine weeks. He flew home for Ben Melham from dead last to score a thrilling half neck win at odds of $31. Given instructions by Lees to “ride him like a stayer”, Melham fulfilled his role to the letter. “It was a solid tempo and he always travelled well,” Melham said. “The runs came in the straight and he was good enough to take them.” Lees was willing to gamble with his riding instructions understanding that a cold ride could produce a hard luck story, but it all worked out. “I said on the turn he’s going to run a race this horse then I saw him find a backside and get held-up,” he said. “At the 150 I knew he was going to be right in it. I rode him as hard as Ben Melham the last 100.” Sense of Occasion was trained earlier in his career by the late Guy Walter and has since passed through the hands of Joe Pride and Tony McEvoy before joining Kris Lees in July of this year. He has the overall record of seven wins and six placings from 21 starts earning $538,520 for his happy group of owners. Bred by Shadwell and foaled and raised at Yarraman Park, Sense of Occasion is the best of two winners from Saywaan, a half-sister by Zabeel to Group I winner Rewaaya. Tracing to influential matriarch Easy Date, whose descendants include Golden Slipper winner Forensics and leading sires Snippets and Not a Single Doubt, Saywaan was on-sold by Shadwell in 2012 for $75,000 to Colm Santry Bloodstock and was with Sun Stud before she died in 2015. Sense of Occasion wasn’t the only Yarraman Park sold winner at Randwick with promising Snitzel gelding Calanda scoring a lucrative win in the $250,000 Inglis Sprint for three year olds. Trained by Peter and Paul Snowden, Calanda broke his maiden at Warwick Farm two starts ago and powered home to win the 1200 metre dash by a length and a half after missing the start. “He missed the start a little bit meaning we were further back than we wanted,” said winning rider Blake Shinn. “But he was very strong right to the line. A very talented horse.” Now a winner of nearly $200,000 with two wins and two placings from four starts, Calanda may be given the chance to chase more Inglis cash. “It might be in the back of our minds to give him a little break,” Paul Snowden said. “There is an Inglis race at Scone that’s worth a lot of money and then there is north (Queensland). ” A $200,000 Inglis Easter purchase for China Horse Club/ Michael Wallace Bloodstock from the Yarraman Park draft, Calanda runs in the China Horse Club colours and is a half-brother to Group III winner Speedy Natalie and stakes-winner Silverstream and is the seventh winner from stakes-winner Speedy Bell.
