Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Sister act score first win at Ellerslie
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • November 4th, 2025 4:00 pm
Golden Wings winning the Yourride 1200 for trainers Sophia Nolan and Hanna Orting at Ellerslie on Tuesday. Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Sisters Sophia Nolan and Hanna Orting recorded the first win in their fledgling training partnership in impressive fashion at Ellerslie on Tuesday, courtesy of exciting gelding Golden Wings.
The four-year-old son of Super Seth and Group One-winning mare Xanadu had shown plenty of promise, undefeated in his three trials and was runner-up in both of his starts prior to Tuesday’s Yourride 1200.
He rocketed out of the gates in the sprint for jockey George Rooke, who immediately pressed forward with his charge to take up the lead. He settled nicely up front before Argo came up alongside him to apply some pressure.
Golden Wings continued to travel nicely for Rooke and entered the home straight with a length advantage, which continued to widen, with the gelding going on to score a comfortable 4-1/2 length victory.
“We are very pleased,” Sophia Nolan said. “We thought he was ready today and he delivered. George rated him perfectly today, he relaxed for him, and it all worked out.
“It was pretty smart (performance) and I think he is going to keep on improving. I think we will see the best from him over 1400m and a mile.”
Golden Wings finished runner-up first-up over 1200m at Ellerslie last month, and Nolan said he took plenty of improvement from that run.
“We missed one trial, and we would have liked to have given him another trial, but there is good prizemoney on offer, so he went and ran a good race and he came on a lot from that race,” she said. “I think he is still learning too.”
Nolan was particularly excited to record her first training win in partnership with her sister Hanna, something that has been in the works for some time.
“That was brilliant, it all worked out today,” Nolan said. “It (training partnership) is something that we have been wanting to do. We have been working closely together for a long time and it made sense.”
The Swedish natives have been in New Zealand for several years and spent lengthy periods working for Cambridge trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, a grounding Nolan said has held them in good stead as they entered their own training careers at Stephen McKee’s former training property in South Auckland.
“When we came to New Zealand we both spent a lot of time working for Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, and we spent a bit of time in Australia with horses,” she said.
“We got a really good grounding and thanks to Stephen McKee we are really lucky to have the facilities where he trained so many good horses from.
“Hanna moved up our way from Cambridge a couple of years ago. We always worked well together so it is great to now be in partnership in this new venture.”
Nolan and her husband Derek are busy preparing for next week’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale at Karaka where they will offer a 19-strong draft under their Lilywhites Lodge banner.
“We have got a really nice draft,” Nolan said. “We have got a couple of lovely Satono Aladdins that look like they have got a lot of upside. One is out of (Group One performer) Postman’s Daughter (lot 46), who was a very good race mare.
“We also have got a lovely Per Incanto (lot 66), out of Quick Choice, and a beautiful Proisir colt (lot 281).”
Lot 146, the Earthlight gelding out of two-win Tavistock mare Taco Tiger, had the fastest breeze-up time in their draft of 10.62 seconds over the 200m, and Nolan said he is a very precocious juvenile.
“He is a ready-made racehorse,” she said. “He is so mature in everything he does. In his breeze-up he pricked his ears and he could have gone quicker.”
While looking forward to next week’s sale, Nolan is also excited to grow her racing team with her sister, and she said they have plenty to look forward to over the summer months.
“It (racing team) is something we would love to grow together,” she said.
“We have got a couple of nice up-and-coming fillies, and (Group Three performer) Master Brutus has been out for a while with some setbacks, but he is coming back in the next week. It will be exciting for the summer to get him back. We will take it race by race with him. There are a lot of good sprint options for him over 1200m and 1400m.”
