Pencarrow Racing and the Pencarrow bred sire Darci Brahma celebrated a winning double at Hawke’s Bay today with progressive geldings Valbuena and Devillaine claiming impressive victories.

A promising young horse, the Bruce Wallace trained three-year-old Valbuena (Darci Brahma x Vega Sicilia) came into today’s $7,000 1400 metre maiden after running a good fifth on debut at Tauranga earlier this month.

Today’s victory at Hawke’s Bay saw a solid performance from the son of Darci Brahma in the hands of jockey Andrew Calder. Drawing barrier 10, he was forced to race wide early and do plenty of work to find the front but in the straight he made his rivals look second rate as he shot away to a classy two-and-a-quarter length victory.

“He’s a good horse,” commented Bruce Wallace. “We had him nominated for the Caulfield Guineas early on as he was shaping up as that type of horse.

“He had a troubled first run being held up and slightly over racing but he learned a lot from that. He had to be good today as he had a tough run and he showed that he has a touch of class.

“We will look to give him another start before perhaps stepping up in class and looking at a stakes race.”

Bred by Peter and Philip Vela, Valbuena is the fourth New Zealand three-year-old winner this season for his sire Darci Brahma who was also bred by Pencarrow Stud.

Valbuena is from the Rodrigo de Triano mare Vega Sicilia, a half-sister to the stakes winner Filante Etoile (Soviet Star), and is from the family of Group 1 winners Star Dancer (Star Watch), Naturalism (Palace Music) and Crystal Palace (Palace Music).

Vega Sicilia was not served last season and currently has a yearling colt by Pins.

The Steven Ramsay & Julia Ritchie trained Devillaine (Darci Brahma x Anatomy) brought up the Pencarrow and Darci Brahma double in the last race of the meeting, a highly competitive $12,000 Rating 65 Benchmark (1200m).

Devillaine produced a dominant maiden victory at his last start at Taupo earlier this month, stamping himself as a horse to follow. The four-year-old backed that up with another good performance today beating a good field of horses including a determined Oasis Rose in a tight finish.

Bred by Peter and Philip Vela, Devillaine is from the Group 3 winning mare Anatomy (Thunder Gulch) and is a half-brother to the Pencarrow bred stakes-placed Left Standing (Stravinsky). His grand-dam is the dual Group 1 winning mare Maurine (Harbor Prince), dam of last season’s Group 2 Wellington Cup winner Six O’Clock News (Zabeel).

Anatomy’s latest foal is a two-year-old colt named Dane's Anatomy (Danehill Dancer) who was purchased by David Ellis from Pencarrow Stud at the 2012 Karaka Premier Sale for $200,000.