Super Photon shines in Te Rapa feature

[Wandering Eyes]

Super Photon’s growing reputation was put to the test in Saturday’s Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre 2YO Stakes (1400m) at Te Rapa, and the exciting colt rose to the challenge in style.

The black-type feature was the second win in an unblemished two-start career for the Super Seth colt, who had kicked off with a commanding three-length victory at Rotorua last month.

That debut win came over 1150m against just five opponents, who had a total of six previous starts between them. The runner-up was the first-starter Magice, a trial-winning full-brother to the Group One winner and Waikato Stud stallion Noverre, while third placegetter Ziggy Stardust went on to run second in Saturday’s Listed Berkley Stud Champagne Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton.

Trainer Stephen Marsh upped the ante on Saturday with Super Photon, taking a big step up to 1400m in a talented field of 11 that included proven black-type winner Domain Ace and impressive recent winners Renovations and Star Shadow.

An unsuitable Soft7 track added another degree of difficulty to the challenge, but Marsh and jockey Michael McNab had a feeling that Super Photon might be good enough to win regardless. Super Photon emphatically proved them right with his performance on Saturday.

Sent out as a $3.80 second favourite behind Domain Ace, Super Photon settled in fourth place as Renovations and Force Of Law sprinted to the front in the first 100m and then put the brakes on through the middle stages of the race.

McNab cruised up on the outside of that pair at the home turn and pushed the button in the straight. Super Photon quickened smartly and soon swept up alongside Renovations, who lifted again and tried her hardest to stay with him. But Super Photon slowly but surely edged ahead, opening up a winning margin of a length and a half.

“He’s a beautiful horse,” McNab said. “I trialled him a few weeks ago and just fell in love with him and everything about him. I was suspended when he won on debut, but I was lucky enough that the connections gave me the ride back and he was really good today.

“I thought the speed might be a bit more genuine, but we walked and he was overdoing it for a while before he came back to me nicely.

“He found a kick in the straight, but was struggling in that ground, so it was a big effort to win. I think you’ll see him down at Riccarton in the spring. He’s going the right way.”

Bred by Waikato Stud, Super Photon is the second stakes winner from the first crop of their stallion Super Seth, who is also the sire of the Sydney Group Three winner Linebacker.

Super Photon is a half-brother to the Gr.1 Rosehill Guineas (2000m) and Gr.1 Winx Stakes (1400m) winner Mo’unga, who has recently been announced as a new stallion for Newhaven Park in New South Wales.

Waikato Stud offered Super Photon in their Book 1 yearling draft at Karaka last year, where Stephen Marsh Racing, Dennis Foster, Bourbon Lane and Dylan Johnson Bloodstock purchased him for $380,000.

His two-from-two career has banked $55,520 in stakes so far, with the promise of a lot more to come.

Saturday’s win continued a tradition of black-type juvenile success at Te Rapa at this time of year for Marsh, who won a 1200m version of this race with No More Tears (2015), Ugo Foscolo (2016), Ardrossan (2017) and Santa Catarina (2018).

“That was outstanding,” stable representative and bloodstock agent Dylan Johnson said on Saturday. “You’re always a bit nervous when you saddle up these sorts of colts. We knew going up to 1400m today was a bit of a stretch in just his second start.

“But he’s a very classy colt, extremely well bred and a beautiful style of horse, so to see that performance today was very exciting.

“He’s still so new to it and he’s far from the finished article. Whatever he did as a two-year-old was always just going to be a bonus. Once he gets up to a mile and really learns his craft, he’s going to be pretty dangerous.

“We’ve had some luck winning two-year-old stakes races here at this time of the year, and to win this one today over 1400m probably makes it the most important one so far.”

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