Washdyke trainer Warwick Coles is hoping his 2yr-old Windwhistle will help put the small Mid-Canterbury settlement, after whom he was named, on the map.
Windwhistle recorded his second win from four starts with an impressive fresh-up display at Waimate on Sunday - in a race in which he was not originally going to start.
"He was a late nomination for the race as I thought he hadn't done enough," Coles said.
Windwhistle was named by Coles.
"I was driving to the West Coast with a mate when we went through Windwhistle and I thought that would be a good name for a horse."
Windwhistle is a small farming locality in a gorge on the banks of the Rakaia River close to the foothills of the Southern Alps, near Methven.
Coles and two friends, Gerard Bell and Jill Dennison, were attending the South Island Sale looking to buy a 2yr-old but as the day was ending they had not made a purchase.
"Two weanlings came through after the sale and I managed to buy the Traditionally-Ultra Vires colt for $1600," Coles said.
Windwhistle was bred by Karreman Bloodstock.
Coles was approached by fellow Washdyke trainer Polly Macdonald after the sale and she told him he had just bought a brother to Jacks.
Jacks finished third at Riccarton in October 2008 at his first start as a 2yr-old and ran fourth to Lesley Brook in the 2008 Welcome Stakes.
Windwhistle had shown Coles enough in training that he expected the gelding to win at his first start in September at Riccarton.
He finished second to Encosta Diablo then turned the tables on that runner at his next start at Riccarton in October.
He was unplaced at his next start in the $45,000 Welcome Stakes won by Encosta Diablo.
"He didn't jump the best that day and never really got near the speed," Coles said.
Coles said he was pleasantly surprised by the win at Waimate.
"I thought he would need the race and I just wanted a line on him.
"I told jockey Amelia Denby to keep him on the rail from the No 1 draw but I didn't expect him to settle second last."
Denby rode to instructions and the gelding finished strongly along the inner to win convincingly.
Bell, a retired joiner, moved to Geraldine a year ago after living in Alexandra.
He met success from the stable of Mel and Warwick Coles with Melvils Choice, who won nine races, six on the flat and three over hurdles.
Dennison, from Christchurch, has had success with horses carrying the prefix "Windvale".
Coles is wary of the weight Windwhistle may be given.
He was allotted 57kg on Sunday but carried 54kg with the 3kg claim of Denby.
"He still has some maturing and strengthening to do and we are looking to have him at his peak for the early season 3yr-old races," Coles said.
Alby Gain is retiring after some 35 years as a racing commentator.
Gain plans to call his last race at Alexandra Park on August 13.
He made his first raceday call in the mid-1970s for Radio NZ before taking on a fulltime role with Radio Pacific in 1981.
He called up to 200 race meetings a year throughout New Zealand including at Wingatui.
