Pencarrow Racing, resident trainers Steven Ramsay & Julia Ritchie, and the Pencarrow bred sire Darci Brahma all celebrated a winning double at Otaki on Friday with Willing Spirit and Navy Beach both successful.

Willing Spirit (Darci Brahma x Virtus) opened the winning double taking victory in the first race of the meeting, a $7,000 1200 metre maiden.

Ridden by Jonathan Riddell, the four-year-old filly raced on the speed and kicked away in the straight to claim her first race victory by 1.5 lengths. The race was Willing Spirit’s third career start with her first two races seeing her finish out of the placings on wet tracks.

The daughter of Darci Brahma was bred by Peter and Philip Vela and is the second of two winning daughters from her dam Virtus (Tale of the Cat), the other being Alentejo (Spartacus) who was also raced by Pencarrow Racing. Virtus produced a filly by Encosta de Lago in 2011 that will be retained by the Stud to race, and she was served by Alamosa in 2012.

Navy Beach (Darci Brahma x Beyond the Sunset) completed the double when winning her second race from nine starts in the $7,000 Dominion Post Handicap (2100m). The four-year-old was slowly away from the barriers under jockey Rosie Myers and did it tough, coming from last and widest on the turn to produce a big finish, racing down the outside to win by half a length.

The four-year-old’s last win came in May 2012 at Ruakaka over 1600 metres. A well-bred mare, Navy Beach is a half-sister to Group 2 winner Te Akau Coup (Thorn Park) and stakes winner Don Garcia (Danehill) and is the fourth winner from the Gone West mare Beyond The Sunset.

Beyond The Sunset produced a colt by Fastnet Rock that will be offered for sale as a yearling, and was sent to Darci Brahma in 2012. Her now two-year-old O’Reilly filly was purchased at Karaka last year by Michael Wallace & Michael Freedman for $150,000.

The Pencarrow bred Darci Brahma is enjoying a good season having sired 33 winners in New Zealand so far including the Group 2 winner Nashville. Darci Brahma was crowned Singapore’s 2012 Champion Sire with progeny earnings in excess of S$1.8 million with his list of winners headed by his seven time stakes winning son Super Easy.

Pencarrow Stud will offer five yearlings by Darci Brahma at New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2013 Karaka Yearling Sales. Click on the links to view the Stud’s Karaka Premier and Select Sale drafts.