Sessions mare Jaz Session has won an all-important black-type victory in the LR Scenic Blast Stakes (1200m) on a day to remember for Oakland Park at Ascot.
Jaz Session is one of the most consistent horses in training in Perth with 8 wins and 9 placings in 22 starts for trainer Justine Erkelens. Saturday’s victory sent her bank-balance through $400,000 and it also boosted her residual value as a broodmare prospect for owner Ian Rickwood.
The Scenic Blast was the second-leg of a double for Oakland Park resident Sessions (Lonhro) following Urquharts Bluff in the Westspeed Platinum Hcp (1100m). Oakland Park owners Neville and Susan Duncan also weighed in with their homebred sprinter-miler Famous Dain (Shamus Award) to make it a treble in the Vale Colin Webster Hcp (1400m).
Jaz Session (Photo / Western Racepix) had won the Epona Classic (1200m) at Ascot in December and was runner-up in the LR Summer Scorcher (1000m) and Miss Andretti Stakes (1100m) earlier this month.
She was sitting pretty in the box-seat yesterday and pinched a break in the straight that allowed Shaun O’Donnell time to point the way home with his stick steady at her eye-level.
“She had a perfect run with 54kg and I couldn’t be happier with the way she let down for Shaun,” Erkelens said. “She’s eight runs into this prep but they can stay fresh when they’re trained out of a paddock. She licks the bin and comes in with a heart-rate next to nothing so we will continue until she tells me she’s had enough.
“She’s in the stall next to Scenic Blast today and he was just an amazing horse travelling the world. I told her to ‘run like him’ and there you go.”
Jaz Session (5m Sessions – Jaz Me Up by War Chant) was bred by Greenfields Lodge owner Tony Patrizi and sold to John Chalmers (as agent) for $24,000 the 2022 Perth Magic Millions. Her older half-sister Jazz Affair (Demerit) has won five races to date in Adelaide and Melbourne for Richard and Chantelle Jolly.
Their 3yo half-sister Jazz Me Baby (Gingerbread Man) was an eye-catching fourth on debut for Erkelens on Platinum Day at Ascot in December. She came from last in a 13-horse field to be beaten a length and change by London’s Rascal (Gingerbread Man) in the Westspeed Maiden (1200m).
Urquharts Bluff signalled he has the potential to go to the next level for Sessions when going back-to-back at Ascot this month in the Westspeed Platinum Hcp (1100m). He tracked Ain’t No Other Man (Gingerbread Man) and did best of the closers under Lisa Staples to defeat Rommel’s Goddess (Rommel) by three-quarters of a length.
Trainer Paul Jordan revealed he’s overcome some severe setbacks and is still only in his third racing prep. “He had a hairline fracture of the tibia and then had to have chips removed from a hind fetlock. He cost a lot of money but can go on now and pay his way.”
Urquharts Bluff (4g Sessions – Xaar Boom by Xaar) was bred and sold for $155,000 by Ben and Jo Duncan from the Forest View Farm consignment at the 2023 Perth Magic Millions. He’s one of five winners from five foals to race out of Xaar Boom and the best so far has been Safeguard filly Buzzoom (LR Burgess Queen Stakes).
