A pair of lightly raced sons of Westbury Stud resident Swiss Ace made their presences felt in impressive fashion at the weekend.
On Saturday, Mallister broke his maiden at Te Aroha and the following day Willit struck at Tauranga with both impressively carrying the colours of breeder Gerry Harvey.
The former was narrowly beaten on debut and he made no mistake at the second time of asking for trainer Annabelle Johnson.
The strapping three-year-old had been a late closing second on the course earlier this month and made a successful return to open his account over 1150 metres.
Mallister loped along in a midfield spot away from the fence before improving wide near the turn.
The gelding lengthened stride stylishly under the urging of rider Ace Lawson-Carroll to score with authority.
“We had a lovey trip, he got into a nice rhythm and relaxed and then attacked the line with confidence,” he said.
“Thanks to Westbury Stud and all the team for the opportunity.”
Mallister is the first foal of the Postponed mare Snowfall, who was successful over 1400 metres.
She comes from a potent black-type family that features the recent G1 Sistema winer Return To Conquer and G1 Galaxy Handicap winner Snowland.
Also on the pedigree page are the stakes winners Portillo, Ghisoni, Snippetson and Larkspur Run.
Snowfall has a two-year-old daughter of Telperion, a yearling filly by Reliable Man and is in foal to Tarzino.
Willit is prepared by Debbie Sweeney and improved off a first-up outing to defeat his Rating 75 rivals at Tauranga under jockey Joe Doyle, rounding off strongly after coasting along in second spot to the turn.
Fifth when resuming at Matamata off a seven-month spell, the four-year-old has now two of his five starts and looks more than capable of making his mark in far stronger company.
“He’s a tough horse and I’m looking forward to stepping him up over more ground this preparation,” Sweeney said.
“He’s one to watch out for over the winter.”
Willit is a son of the More Than Ready mare Waterfalls whose Hello Youmzain colt was sold at Karaka last year to Hong Kong Bloodstock for $100,000 and she has a yearling by Tarzino and is back foal to the Westbury resident.
Waterfalls is a sister to the stakes winner Centre Pivot from the family of the G1 Golden Slipper Stakes winner and sire Catbird.