League

Cambridge trainer Shaun Phelan took special satisfaction from an all-the-way win by Pacheco in the $60,000 Poverty Bay Turf Club Cup (2600m) at Taupo on Friday. The Rating 75 staying test was the fifth start in a new campaign for the Makfi gelding, who had recorded a second and two thirds from his first four starts this time in. Before finishing third in his resuming run over 1600m at Te Rapa in early August, Pacheco had spent more than a year on the sidelines with a serious injury. “He’s a horse that we’ve always thought a lot of, both on the flat and over jumps,” Phelan said. “We gave him his first two starts over hurdles in July of last year and managed to win them both, but then he actually fractured a fetlock. “The owners have been really patient and the horse has done a great job to come back as well as he has. It’s a big thrill to get this result with him today.” Pacheco was given a perfect ride by two-kilogram claimer Liam Kauri, who dictated terms out in front and gave the eight-year-old a relatively easy time through the first half of the race. The intensity moved up a few notches when Golden came up to breathe down his neck coming down the side of the track, but Pacheco withstood the pressure. He kicked hard at the home turn and held the challengers at bay all the way down the straight, going on to win by a length and a quarter. Novak got up into second in a tight four-way finish, with a head to Golden, a nose to Tempest Moon and another head to I’m A Dirty Rascal. “It was a beautiful ride and a good, tough effort by the horse,” Phelan said. “It’s great to have a race for a $60,000 stake in this grade, and up over 2600m too – that distance suited him a lot better than the 2000m to 2200m races he often has to run in. I’d love to see a few more races like this one in the schedule.” Pacheco was bought by part-owner Thomas Nicholson for $10,000 off Gavelhouse.com as an unraced three-year-old in February of 2021. He has now had 30 starts for six wins, nine placings and $156,975 in stakes. Phelan already has one leading contender for next month’s Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) in the form of Notabadspillane, who has been an impressive winner of his last two starts at Te Rapa. But the trainer is non-committal about following a similar path with Pacheco, who has moved up to $21 in the fixed-odds market for the Riccarton feature. “In some ways I’d like to get him down there for the Cup, but he’s not the best traveller in the truck,” Phelan said. “We’ll see how he comes through this and come up with a plan. There could be a few other options that we could consider.” The Poverty Bay Turf Club Cup was the first leg of the inaugural Prezzy Card Northern Country Cups Bonus Series, which carries a total of $485,000 in stakes and bonuses including a $50,000 winner-takes-all prize. The new initiative from New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing (NZTR) and the Taupo Racing Club will see seven Country Cups staged across the North Island from October to December, with horses earning points for top-four finishes and required to contest at least three races, including the $100,000 Harcourts Taupo Cup (2000m). Sponsored by leading prepaid gift provider Prezzy Card, the series is designed to encourage participation, create a competitive narrative between regional racedays, and culminate in a high-stakes finale on Harcourts Taupo Cup Day on December 28. The Harcourts Taupo Cup itself has received a $15,000 stakes uplift from last season. The remaining legs of the series are the $80,000 Listed Team Wealleans Matamata Cup (1600m) at Matamata on October 15, the $50,000 Wanganui Steelformers Waverley Cup (2200m) at Waverley on October 19, the $80,000 Mode Technology Feilding Cup (2100m) at Tauherenikau on November 1, the $35,000 DMAK Electrical Waipukurau Cup (2100m) at Waipukurau on November 16, the $30,000 Duncan Dental Tauranga Twilight Cup (2100m) at Tauranga on December 12, and the $100,000 Harcourts Taupo Cup (2000m) at Taupo on December 28. View the full article

Marton horseman Fraser Auret has enjoyed the limelight in recent years as the man behind star sprinter Ka Ying Rising. The outstanding son of Shamexpress was bred and originally trained by Auret, and the world’s highest-rated galloper will step onto the biggest stage when he contests the A$20 million Everest at Randwick on Saturday week. But while Ka Ying Rising will dominate the headlines for the next week, Auret will be closely watching another of his graduates, Romantic Encounter, who contests Saturday’s Gr,1 Caulfield Guineas (1600m). A New Zealand bred son of Ghaiyyath, Romantic Encounter stepped from a debut Bendigo maiden win to finish second in the Gr.2 Stutt Stakes (1600m) and will enter the Guineas at his third start for trainers Ben, Will & JD Hayes. Romantic Encounter was knocked down to PR Thoroughbreds and Lindsay Park Racing at last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Sale for $425,000 from the draft of Phoenix Park, after Auret had originally purchased the horse at the Book 2 Karaka Yearling Sales for $60,000 from the draft of Wentwood Grange. “He was purchased from the yearling sales on behalf of a client and we did the prep work with him before sending him to the Ready to Run Sale,” Auret said. “He was just a magnificent horse all the way through. He was very impressive at a jump out before heading to the sale. He stamped himself right from the time we were breaking him in as a really serious horse.” Auret has been impressed with the way the colt has progressed under the care of the Hayes team and he believes the $26 shot is not without a chance in what shapes as an even Guineas. “He is a young colt having just his third start so he’s come a long way in a very short space of time, but the Hayes team have handled him beautifully,” Auret said. “He’s got to be in there with some chance. The way he’s just continued to improve from his first run to his second run, and he obviously does need to raise the bar again, but there’s no reason why he couldn’t take the leap.” Other Ready to Run graduates prepared by Auret have also found success in Australia. “We sold Mongolian Mission, by Dubious out of Tinjirarni, at the Ready to Run Sale last year. He won at the trials and then won on debut in Australia for Danny O’Brien. Also an El Roca colt, Lion City Express, that we sold has had two trial wins for Tim Fitzsimmons in Australia as well.” Meanwhile, Auret has been staggered by the scrutiny of Ka Ying Rising’s trial in Sydney earlier this week as the David Hayes-trained sprinter prepares for the Everest. “I’ve never seen so much feedback from everyone about a trial,” Auret said. “It was certainly scrutinised to every degree, but at the end of the day, I think it was a really nice trial. You could see that he needed it, but I think he’ll be cherry ripe on the day. “I just hope it’s run on a hard and fast track. When you’re going into a massive sprint race like the Everest you want the fastest horse to be winning. He looks a picture to my eye anyway.” Auret said the family would be gathered around the television on Saturday week. “We are just getting the family together to watch, and certainly can’t wait for that Saturday, that’s for sure, but I’d also love to see Romantic Encounter run well in the Guineas this weekend,” he said. View the full article

A lucrative race at Selangor on Sunday will shine a spotlight on next month’s NZB Ready to Run Sale at Karaka as well as showcasing the high-quality graduates of the Sale that are currently racing in Malaysia. The New Zealand Bloodstock Ready To Run Open Championship (1400m), offering prize money of RM300,000, is held in recognition of the New Zealand Bloodstock’s strong affiliation with the Selangor Turf Club and the club’s commitment to support the Ready to Run Sale. New Zealand Bloodstock Director of Business Development, Mr Mike Kneebone, Mr Alex Teng from NZB Airfreight and New Zealand Thoroughbred Marketing (NZTM) Chief Executive Officer, Mr Andrew Birch will be in attendance at the races in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday. The 1400m Championship features the clash of New Zealand bred stars Antipodean (NZ) (Derryn), Lucky Magic (NZ) (Mendelssohn) and the Frank Maynard-trained pair, Duma (NZ) (Too Darn Hot) and Trees of Valinor (NZ) (Telperion). View the full article

Trainers Simon and Katrina Alexander have set their sights towards summer targets with their star mare La Crique following yet another runner-up result in last month’s Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa. La Crique has two Group One victories to her name but has earned the perennial bridesmaid tag after finishing runner-up at elite-level on eight occasions, including her last six starts, and her trainers are hoping a freshen-up can help give her that extra edge to claim another Group One scalp. “We have decided to take a sit and put her away,” Katrina Alexander said. “She is just having 10 days out at the moment, we won’t press onto the next leg (Gr.1 Livamol Classic, 2040m). “We opted not to go to Australia, she just takes a bit when she pulls up, other than Ellerslie, she comes off Ellerslie in super form. “We know we probably haven’t got her quite as good as what we want. We know we have got room for improvement, and we just want to get that extra 10 percent and see if we can nail it (Group One win) for her. “We are happy to be patient. At her age (seven), we sort of target two races and then take a breather with her. Currently she is having a wee break away from the stable and we will bring her back and focus on something a little later in the year.” Meanwhile, stablemate Midnight Scandal is set to have one more run before heading for the spelling paddock. The stakes performer finished fifth in last weekend’s Gr.3 Grangewilliam Stud Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) at Hawera and the Alexanders are happy to give her one more run closer to home. “Nothing went right in that race at Hawera the other day,” Alexander said. “She is a horse I think needs true tempo. They crawled around and tried to sprint home, which absolutely doesn’t suit her. She is a horse that has got a high cruising speed. “That was to be her last race, but while the weather is the way it is, it looks like she could go into a rating 75 mile at Ellerslie (next Saturday). “Given that she has come through that Hawera run really well, and didn’t really have much of a race, we will look at that and that will probably be the end for her for this part of the season, she has been up a long time, and she will have a good summer break after that.” View the full article

Simon and Katrina Alexander came close to winning the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) a few years ago with their stable star La Crique, and now it looks like they may have another Derby prospect on their hands. Three-year-old gelding Aksil had already attracted the attention of eagle-eyed scouts in his four trials prior to making his debut in the Master Builders Taupo (1300m) at Taupo on Friday, and he lived up to his early promise when comfortably winning by 1-1/4 lengths in the hands of jockey Masa Hashizume. “He’s impressive and did it nicely, albeit still quite green,” Katrina Alexaner said. “We are really thrilled to see him do that and live up to our expectation of him, hopefully he will go on with it.” Alexander said they are taking a patient approach with the son of Ace High, and they are hoping his connections will reap those rewards at the business end of his Classic season. “He was quite a nuggety, little two-year-old and then he has really grown and developed structurally quite a lot,” she said. “We have had to be relatively patient and just get a line on what we think he is going to be. I think distance will be his go, so we are trying to nurture him along in that direction. “He’ll have a couple of runs for experience now and we might give him a breather and concentrate on the other end of the season.” The Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie on Champions Day in March looms as an obvious target, with the Alexanders dreaming of going one better than La Crique’s effort in the 2022 edition. “He could be a lovely Derby horse because he has also got a super turn of foot,” Alexander said. “We have been quite particular to educate him that way, in that he is tractable and can take a sit midfield and not overthink it. “Hopefully he will continue along that track. I would like to see him get out in distance and I think he can be whatever we want him to be.” While there was plenty of interest in Aksil following his trials, Alexander’s phone is set to be ringing red-hot once again following his debut effort, and she is hoping the stable can retain him a little longer. “Even after his first trial, he attracted a lot of interest and even when he was out spelling they kept coming back,” she said. “He is a very eye-catching individual, and you can’t get too carried away with looks, but he certainly lived up to his looks today. “We have got a very happy group of owners and some of them are first time owners, so it is a big thrill for them. Hopefully we can keep him a bit longer and when he is mature, I think he will be quite an exciting horse.” Alexander said Aksil is also proving a hit at home as a stable favourite, and is looming as an heir apparent for the stable’s multiple Group One winner La Crique. “You have those lovely horses like her (La Crique) in the stable for so many years and you can’t help but think that you won’t get one as good as her again,” Alexander said. “It is nice to be able to retain a horse like Aksil in the stable, particularly for the team in general who put in a lot of work in behind the scenes. He has been a stable favourite all the way through. “For the owners to decide to keep him at this point, is really nice for the guys at home to have a quality animal to continue on with for maybe when La Crique is gone.” View the full article