The New Year got off to the perfect start for the Pencarrow Racing team, with two winners across two New Zealand venues on Wednesday afternoon.

Copiapino (NZ) (Medaglia d’Oro) got the day underway with a maiden victory at Hastings, then Vichy (NZ) (Cape Blanco) iced the cake with a strong win in the $50,000 Barfoot & Thompson (1600m) at Ellerslie.

The mare was ridden by the champion Sydney-based New Zealand jockey James McDonald, who will be inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame later this year. McDonald has enjoyed a long and highly successful friendship and partnership with Pencarrow principal Sir Peter Vela, headed by a Group 1 Telegraph (1200m) victory with Guiseppina (NZ) (Johar).

McDonald had Vichy in a perfect position, and at the top of the home straight she loomed ominously on the outside.

Nasha Riva (NZ) (Shocking) came at her with a fierce challenge, but McDonald asked Vichy to lift and she responded, stretching out to win by three-quarters of a length.

Vichy is trained by Graham Richardson and has now won three of her 13 starts and more than $55,000 in stakes.

Vichy is out of the stakes-winning Catbird mare Vercors (NZ), a half-sister to the Group 1 performer Hasselhoof (NZ) (Tavistock).

Vercors is the dam of five named foals, all of them winners.