Racing: Railway to NZ-Bred Sydney sprinter

Sydney-trained Recurring proved too strong when winning the $200,000 Railway Handicap at Ellerslie in Auckland today.

Recurring, trained at Rosehill by Gerald Ryan, settled mid-field in the group one 1200m event and after being angled out in the home straight, finished resolutely to score convincingly.

The win completed a notable double for his sire Pentire who on the first day of the Auckland summer carnival had produced Xcellent to win the group one $500,000 New Zealand Derby (2400m) for three-year-olds on December 26.

Bred in New Zealand, Recurring's dam is Donna's Habit who won New Zealand's other feature sprint, the Telegraph Handicap (1200m) at Trentham in Wellington.

Recurring is to stay in New Zealand with the Telegraph Handicap, run on January 22, next on her agenda.

Recurring, a five-year-old mare, was ridden today by one of New Zealand's leading riders, Hayden Tinsley, a nephew of Queensland trainer Kaye Tinsley.

Second across the line in the Railway was Gee I Jane who did very well after starting from an outside draw and getting well back in the running.

Close up third was Sedecrem. He ran home well from mid-field while a strong-finishing fourth was Dezigna who was another to get well back from a wide draw.

The two favoured runners, Danbird and Not A Single Doubt, failed to figure in the finish.

Danbird led into the straight but weakened on the easy track conditions while Not A Single Doubt, trained in Melbourne by Tony Vasil, was handy enough on the home turn but could not finish it off.\

- NZPA