WOW WATADEEL BLITZ’S THEM

Fantastic 1 st up win by 3yo Dundeel gelding Watadeel at Geelong 15/9. Having only his 2 nd raceday
appearance the gelding has been a bit of a work in progress for trainer Phillip Stokes and his team.
Watadeel was excellent on debut at Pakenham in May this year running a very good 4 th but Phillip
elected to send the then colt out for a spell. Returning a gelding and with a lot of hard work teaching
him to settle, Watadeel had shown in his lead up jumpouts things were beginning to click.
The horse jumped well and Zac Spain found a good position but by his own admission he felt he had
missed the boat at the 600m mark when a few fancied runners were off and gone out wide.
Switching Watadeel back to the inside proved a winning move as he darted through to win running
away. A very impressive performance by Watadeel showing such a great turn of foot on the heavy 8
and with a lot of promise to come. Undeniably thrilled with his effort Phil indicated that this was
maybe the start but the horse would take a lot of improvement from the run.
Watadeel was a $115K purchase from the Stonehouse Tbs draft as agent for very good breeders
Segenhoe Stud at the 2021 Inglis Melbourne Premier Sales. From the moment the colt came out of
his box he looked an athletic scopey type and was quite a flashy type but being a 1 st November foal
he has been given plenty of time to develop and grow out. The 3 rd winner from as many runners for
the good winning Encosta De Lago mare Water Kiss, Watadeel is bred on the same Dundeel /
Encosta De Lago cross as the Bennett Racing’s very good metropolitan winning mare Maid Of Iron.
Bred to relish the 1600m trip, Watadeel looks an ideal Guineas horse whether the Caulfield Guineas
will come up too quick or the Australian Guineas in March may be more a target, the horse will tell
us.
Congratulations to all owners.
Incidently Watadeel is the 3 rd winner from Bennett Racing’s 2021 Yearling purchases which also
includes the stakesplaced colts Zou Sensation & Magnaspin and stakes class metro winning filly
Street Delight from only a few runners.