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FWC: BEL v SEN live on SN ExtraConnections eying another crack at winter feature
Paul Vettise, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • July 1st, 2026 12:38 pm
Royal Valour will take his place in Thursday’s Gallagher Insurance Handicap (1400m) at Ashburton | Photo: Race Images South
Royal Valour gave a brave account of himself in last year’s Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) and is on track for a second tilt at the Riccarton feature.
That plan will gain further momentum with another strong performance from the son of Belardo on his home track in Thursday’s Gallagher Insurance Handicap (1400m).
Bred owned and trained by Bevan and Robyn Wilson, Royal Valour will then have one more outing before next month’s Winning Edge Presentations Winter Cup, in which he finished fifth 12 months ago.
“The Central Districts horses cleaned us up, but we were the first southern one home,” Bevan Wilson said.
“There’s the Oamaru Cup (July 19) that he won last year and we plan to go there again and then we’ll look at the Winter Cup if he’s going well.”
Eight-time winner Royal Valour has been taken along quietly this preparation and followed up a fourth placing in the Easter Cup (1600m) two starts back with a late finish for third in the Amberley Cup (1400m).
“He handles heavy tracks, so we’ve been biding our time a bit with him,” Wilson said.
“He’s racing well, but he does just make it a bit hard on himself.
“He normally likes to get back and sometimes he has to go around them all, but it’s a smaller field this time so hopefully he’s not too far from them when they turn for home.”
Stablemate Lord Darci won the 2022 edition of the Winter Cup and was one place worse than Royal Valour last year when sixth, but it was far from smooth sailing in between times.
“He virtually missed two seasons with injury, he twice got an infected hock and they were career threatening,” Wilson said.
“He’s just a bit of a loose cannon on the float and won’t stand still so it’s all self-inflicted really.
“He’s probably never going to be the horse he promised to be but when he’s right on the day he can be hard to beat, especially on heavy tracks.”
Lord Darci has been out twice this preparation and showed improvement when a last-start fourth in the Amberley Cup.
“He just got going a wee bit early and is a horse that need to be held up a bit for one run at the end, so hopefully that can happen for him,” Wilson said.
“He’s starting to run out of time really, we’ll get through this one and the Oamaru Cup and see how he’s going from there.”
