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By Wandering Eyes · Posted
By Michael Guerin Cran Dalgety shakes his head when he looks at the TAB market for the Trillian Trust Auckland Cup. It is not that the Canterbury trainer doesn’t believe his stable star Republican Party should be a warm, or even hot, favourite for the $250,000 iconic feature at Alexandra Park on Wednesday night. It is just that Dalgety never thought he’d have a pacer paying $1.40 to win one of our great races. “It is kinda crazy when you think about it,” he says. “We don’t often have $1.40 chances in maiden races and here we have one in the Auckland Cup. “I know how hard these really big races are to win and apart from when Mark [Purdon] was really flying you don’t often see those sort of odds in a Cup.” While $1.40 in a 3200m Group 1 sounds incredibly short the Auckland Cup has had even hotter favourites in the last decade, with Vincent paying just when he won in 2017 and Self Assured was $1.40 when he won the Cup for a second time in 2022. It is hard to argue with the bookies’ assessment because in the last 12 months, since he won the Invercargill Cup and Auckland Cup last year, Republican Party has been clearly our best pacer. He has been near perfect: sound, brave, well-mannered and willing whereas plenty of his rivals have been on form or injury rollercoasters. Republican Party bent to the will of the powerful Australians in Kingman and Leap To Fame during New Zealand Cup week but there tends to be less pressure in the Aussie-less races and that could be the case in the eight-horse Cup at Wednesday’s twilight meeting. It is a balanced field with most of the better open class pacers going around but there are few brutes good enough to bully horses so if Republican Party steps safely from barrier 2 not many of his rivals would seem likely to want to get into a battle for the lead with him. The obvious threat is Merlin, who finished second to Republican Party in this race last year. He has yet to win over 3200m, albeit in only three attempts, but has actually looked stronger in the last two months and he did beat Republican Party home in the New Zealand Cup (3200m) when third last month. “He looks like the one we have to beat,” says Dalgety, who worked for Merlin’s co-trainer Barry Purdon for four years at the start of his career. While Republican Party has had a big year, travelling up and down the country and across the Tasman, Dalgety says for a stallion he handles being away from home well. “Especially when he comes up here to Pukekohe,” he explains. “He stays in the same box every time he comes here and while being a colt he yells out a bit and gets boisterous he is all talk.” Merlin will have two Purdon/Phelan stablemates in the Cup in Sooner The Bettor and Better Knuckle Up, Cambridge trainer Arna Donnelly has two in Little Spike and Jolimont while Akuta returns after winning the Cup when it was run in May in 2023. Wednesday’s other Group 1 is the Peter Breckon Memorial National Trot which has also drawn a small field with Mighty Logan a $2 favourite from barrier 2 with Oscar Bonavena on the unruly for the 2700m mobile but still the $2.80 second favourite in a race missing two-time winner Muscle Mountain and Bet N Win. The 12-race twilight meeting starts at 2.55pm. To see the Auckland fields click here View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Well-related mare Watersports (NZ) (Ocean Park) added a second win to her record with a track-record-breaking victory in the A$80,000 Big Swing Golf Handicap (1500m) at Cranbourne on Saturday. The promising four-year-old is a half-sister to Grail Seeker (NZ) (Iffraaj), the winner of last season’s Gr.1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m) and Telegraph (1200m) for Matamata trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott. Grail Seeker will head to Trentham to attempt to defend that Telegraph title next Saturday. Watersports herself brought strong form credentials into her Benchmark 70 assignment at Cranbourne, having been beaten by small margins when second at Seymour and third at Sandown in her two previous appearances in this campaign. The Archie Alexander-trained mare was sent out as a $3.10 favourite on Saturday, and she produced a well-timed finish to win in the hands of jockey Craig Williams. Drawn gate two, Watersports jumped well and took up a handy position in third along the rail. A strong speed was set by Porter (So You Think), who had a clear lead throughout and poured on even more pressure coming down the side of the track and around the home turn. Porter still had a clear lead halfway down the straight, but Williams angled Watersports off the fence and the pair set their sights on the tearaway leader. Watersports warmed into her work and charged past Porter in the final 50 metres for a narrow but impressive win. The time of 1:28.72 was a new track record for 1500m at Cranbourne. “She had a good spot, but they were going very hard and it’s not easy to sit at that top speed and then quicken in the straight, but she did it,” Alexander said. “We got a bit of luck at the right time with the gap appearing at the top of the straight. It looked like we might be a gallant second, with Porter giving a good kick and going well clear. I thought we might be in trouble. But she’s always been incredibly game. It was a good, strong ride and she got there. “She’s always been on the verge of having a big win like that. She’s had a second at Flemington in the past. Even though she hasn’t won for a while, she’s been a very consistent mare. “She’s well bred, a half to a Group One winner, and she’s a lovely type. This is great for all the connections. “With that page that she has, it would be great to look at an Adelaide autumn stakes race with her. She’s just kept on improving. She’s now a city winner, and we’ll just creep along from here.” Watersports was bred by Jamieson Park and is by Ocean Park out of the Redoute’s Choice mare Starwish. Lime Country Thoroughbreds offered Watersports during the 2023 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale, where she was bought for A$75,000 by Alexander Racing and Rogers Bloodstock. Watersports has now had 13 starts for two wins, seven placings and A$112,100 in prize-money. View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
There will be more than just the healthy $57,500 first placed cheque on the line for talented galloper Agera (NZ) (Complacent) when he contests the Harcourts Taupo Cup (2000m) at Taupo on Sunday. The race is the last event in the newly minted Northern Cups bonus, a series where the leading points scorer over seven Cup races will take out the winner-takes-all $50,000 bonus for accumulating the most points across those races. Agera currently sits atop the leaderboard with 10 points, secured with victories in the Listed Matamata Cup (1600m) and Listed Feilding Cup (2100m), and he is being chased by the quintet of Enright, Mollify, Just Charlie, Pacheco and Sailor Jack, all on five points. With just Enright amongst Agera’s rivals on Sunday, it is a straight shoot out for the title in a race that offers double points to the first three home on the day. Trainer Tony Pike admitted it was more by circumstance than design that his charge is in contention for the bonus, but he is keen to secure the prize now he finds himself in that position. “After he (Agera) won the Matamata Cup we wanted to take him to the Thompson Handicap (Gr.3, 1600m) at Trentham but a stone bruise put paid to that, so we pulled him out and went to the Feilding Cup instead,” Pike said. “When he won that we sat down and reassessed things and with the fact the Taupo Cup is a $100,000 race, and there is an extra $50,000 on offer, it was pretty much a no brainer that we should look seriously at it.” Agera heads the field with a 62kg impost for the feature on Sunday, however, apprentice Sam McNab will reduce that with his 3kg claim and Pike believes his charge will be very competitive if he can get some luck in running. “He is coming back from competing well in a Group One (Mufhasa Classic, 1600m) and as long as he can get some luck from his barrier (11) then he has to be a strong chance,” he said. “It is a massive drop back in class, so we will want Sam to be aggressive and hopefully have him up in the first three or four shortly after jumping. From there he will have to make his own luck, but he is well capable of doing that. “He has been up a long time but he has thrived all the way through and looks as good now as he did back in May when he kicked off his campaign. “As long as the weather plays ball it should be a massive crowd on course, so it is going to be an exciting day.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Expat Kiwi jockey Daniel Stackhouse will once again answer the call of Riccarton trainers Michael and Matthew Pitman to ride their team at Trentham next month. The Melbourne-based hoop returned to New Zealand last month to ride Mystic Park (NZ) (Ocean Park) to victory in the Gr.3 TAB Mile (1600m) for the father-and-son team, and he will reunite with the six-year-old gelding in the Gr.2 Harcourts Thorndon Mile (1600m) on January 17. “He came over to ride Mystic Park to win the TAB Mile and I have asked him to come over to ride him in the Thorndon and he said ‘yeah, no problem’,” Michael Pitman said. “We will have a nice team in that day, probably three or four horses.” Mystic Park, who was runner-up in the Gr.3 Spring Sprint (1400m) at Trentham earlier this month, will ready for the Thorndon Mile with a run in Sunday’s Craigmore Sustainable Holdings Timaru Cup (1600m) at Phar Lap Raceway, where he will be ridden by Brett Murray. While pleased with his gelding heading into the race, Pitman is wary of his 62kg impost, which is three kilograms heavier than his closest rival – Group One performer Matscot. “Weight could be an issue,” he said. “They are claiming on Matscot and Sir Albert, and he is carrying 62kg. But he has won carrying 60kg and he is a strong horse.” Mystic Park’s wide draw also poses a concern for Pitman. “Barrier 10 may not suit but he will be right there in the finish because he is very genuine,” he said. “The horse is really well, we are very happy with him.” Mystic Park will likely be joined on his float trip north to Trentham next month by several of the barn’s other Timaru runners, including Rosso and Star Ballot, who will contest the Te Akau Racing (2200m). Rosso has been in a purple patch of form since joining the Pitmans’ barn earlier this season, winning two of his four starts, and both he and Star Ballot are on a path towards the Gr.3 NZ Campus Of Innovation & Sport Wellington Cup (3200m) on January 31. “Triston (Moodley, apprentice jockey) has been riding quite a lot of work for us, so we are claiming with him (on Rosso on Sunday),” Pitman said. “I am very happy with him, he should take a power of beating. “He is on track for the Wellington Cup after this. Star Ballot will possibly go to Wellington as well and Daniel Stackhouse has won on him before.” Last-start winner Moon Goddess will also likely head to Trentham following her run in Sunday’s NZB Mega Maiden Series (1200m). “They had their first start since coming from Australia and they won very impressively the other day,” Pitman said. She will be joined in her race by stablemate Dostee, who Pitman rates among his better chances of the day. “I do like Dostee in the maiden 1200m,” he said. “He didn’t have much luck in his first start, but he is a nice horse and Triston Moodley rides him.” View the full article -
By Wandering Eyes · Posted
Wexford Stables are daring to dream with their exciting juvenile filly Te Encuentro (Frankel) following her impressive debut victory in the SkyCity 1100 at Ellerslie on Boxing Day. The Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott-trained filly won her sole trial over 800m at Pukekohe earlier this month and the Matamata horsemen were confident of a bold showing on debut. That confidence quickly waned after she was forced to settle at the rear of the field and raced flat for most of the journey. She continued to battle at the back of the pack down the home straight, but in the final 200m she sprouted wings and took a gap between favourites Ka Ron and She’s No Saint to score an eye-catching long head victory. While jockey Craig Grylls admitted to being slightly concerned during the mid-stages of the race, he was left in awe of her brilliant finish and he was delighted she was able to vindicate the stable’s early assessment of her. “We were pretty confident with her,” he said. “She actually jumped okay but they all raced up inside me. I pulled her back to last and I thought I would travel into it a lot better, I was probably still last until the 250m. She has just picked up all of a sudden, took the gap like a pro and it was a big win. She has shown what we have thought of her.” Lance O’Sullivan, whose wife Bridgette shares in the ownership of Te Encuentro, was delighted with the winning performance. “She is relatively inexperienced, she has only had the one barrier trial before today, and it was a pretty special performance. She had to be pretty good to win,” he said. “At the 300m I thought she was going to run a nice fifth or sixth, and run really well, but she really put in the last bit.” Purchased by Wexford Stables out of Arrowfield Stud’s 2025 Inglis Australian Easter Yearling Sale draft for A$600,000, Te Encuentro is ineligible for next month’s TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m), but her connections are still dreaming of other big assignments and haven’t ruled out a bid at the Gr.1 Golden Slipper (1200m). “She is not eligible for the big two-year-old race here at Ellerslie but looks like she is a filly that is going to run a long way further than the 1100m, the way she hit the line,” O’Sullivan said. “We just hope she can take that next step up and be in good company. “Andrew suggested we do that (nominate her for the Golden Slipper) early on and I said if she is good enough we will pay the late entry. It is not very often you get a New Zealand horse across for that race but if she carries on, we all have pipedreams, so who knows.” View the full article
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