Stud Gallopers Shine for Ritchie and Murray

[Wandering Eyes]

Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray’s stayer Nereus(NZ) (Savabeel) carried the colours of Waikato Stud to win last Saturday’s Gr.3 Counties Cup (2100m), and at Te Aroha on Wednesday, their exciting three-year-old Tycoon Prince(NZ) (Written Tycoon) put Cambridge Stud’s name to the forefront with an impressive maiden success.

A gelding by Written Tycoon, Tycoon Prince debuted as a juvenile in mid-February before going for a spell, and since returning, his talent has been evident with a runner-up finish to Osteria at Pukekohe on November 7.

Starting an equal favourite with Para Para in Wednesday’s December Final Hurrah Of 2024 3YO (1150m), Tycoon Prince flew from the gates, but Ryan Elliot had no intention of leading and allowed a trio of runners to duel for the pace in front.

Para Para hit the lead early in the straight with Tycoon Prince in pursuit, and his big, bounding strides were too powerful late to score by a neck, with the third placegetter a further three lengths adrift in Mulan Ardeche.

Ritchie couldn’t have been happier with the performance, crediting his training partner and Elliot from an educational point of view.

“He’s a big horse and he’s been a little bit claustrophobic in the barriers, so Colm has spent a lot of time teaching him to relax and getting that nervousness out of him,” he said. “It’s paid dividends today.

“He’s a lovely big horse and we’re very keen to get him to 1400m, but we just feel he’s over-racing a bit at the moment and sitting outside the leader.

“I thought it was a great educational ride by Ryan, just to take that sit on him. He clearly could’ve crossed and led, but it will greatly benefit the horse in the future by letting those three go and sitting in behind them, then coming out on the corner.

“Teaching him to follow, I believe, is the key to getting him to 1400m and a mile later on in life, if he can retain that turn of foot over a mile he’s going to be awfully hard to beat in those later three-year-old races, and as a four and five-year-old.”

Tycoon Prince was bred by Cambridge Stud principals Brendan and Jo Lindsay, who entrusted the gelding in Ritchie and Murray’s care after he was withdrawn from the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.

“My understanding is that he went to a sale and unfortunately he didn’t meet what they expected for him, so wisely they decided to keep him,” Ritchie said. “If you’re not going to get the right price, it’s to our benefit if they’re going to retain horses of his quality.

“We’re very lucky as trainers though, we are in the situation where we are getting to train for the likes of Cambridge Stud today and we won a Counties Cup for Waikato Stud last Saturday. These are guys that have been in the game and breeding horses from properties that have been around for years and years, and that makes it a privilege to train for them.

“It gives you the quality animal you are wanting to work with and it’s so much easier to do the job we do.”

Going forward, Ritchie intends to spend as much time in the bright lights of Ellerslie as possible with Tycoon Prince, with the ultimate goal of contesting the lucrative age-group races being staged there in the new year.

“He’s good on top of the ground, so we’ll start having a look at Ellerslie as much as we can, given that the better three-year-old money is there,” he said.

“We will have a programme to race him there as much as we can on their nice firm track and hopefully that will give the horse his best chance to win the maximum amount while he’s at that prime age.

“We’re well aware of how important it is for a three-year-old to get black-type, because once they turn four, it’s not always the easiest year for them. We will try to take advantage of that.

“We have spaced his races to this point, so it’ll be interesting to step him up and see how good we are against those better three-year-olds.”

Another promising thee-year-old in the stable, Tuxedo, will make his stakes-level debut at Otaki on Thursday, lining up in the Gr.3 Elsdon Park Wellington Stakes (1600m).

The Tivaci gelding won on debut at Te Aroha on October 30 over 1400m, narrowly defeating Withallmyfaith, who went on to win in Premier Rating 65 company at Pukekohe last Saturday. Joe Doyle will retain the ride in the feature where Tuxedo is rated a $6.50 hope in a condensed market topped by He’s Lucid ($5).

“I really like this horse, the horse he beat last time has gone on to win two in a row so the form around him is very good,” Ritchie said.

“He is a bit green, he gets things a bit wrong and he wanted to over-race early at his first start, and then when he got to the front he wanted to wait a little bit, which he’s mimicking in training.

“He’s got a bit to learn so he will be vulnerable, but we see him as a Derby type of a colt and that awkward gate (9) is probably the best thing for him, because we’ll allow him to find his feet tomorrow and I don’t think he’s the sort of horse that we want getting to the front too soon.

“It’s a big step, for a horse coming out of a maiden race straight into a Group Three, but having said that, it’s basically a Rating 65 race in his age group.

“That little bit of cut in the ground is why we’ve elected to go here instead of the two Ellerslie races in the next couple of weeks, because he’s quite a big horse and we want him to gradually get used to the firmer tracks. A Soft 5 and the rain forecasted tomorrow, it should set up nicely for the firmer tracks over the summer where he hopes he excels over further.”

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