Wexford Make Decisive Move with NZB Kiwi Slot Pick

[Wandering Eyes]

Wexford Stables’ red-hot form across a stable of talented three-year-olds in recent months has built widespread anticipation over which of their talented stars would emerge to represent the Matamata barn in the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m).

Training partners Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott have ended speculation, making the decisive move to select hugely promising galloper Checkmate (NZ) to fill their slot in the inaugural running of the Southern Hemisphere’s richest three-year-old race.

Checkmate has made a big impression in just five appearances to the races, notching three victories including the Listed Armacup 3YO Stakes (1500m) and an open three-year-old 1500m last Sunday at Ellerslie.

“Checkmate is a horse that gets around Ellerslie, which is important. He’s won at the trip and just ticked a lot of boxes,” Lance O’Sullivan said.

“He should acquit himself well, we’re happy with him and his condition, although he’ll have another run before then. We’re still undecided where (he will race next), we have a couple of options to work through, but the horse will tell us what he needs.

“He’s a nice horse for the race and one of many chances,” he said.

A former Champion Jockey and multiple Group One-winning trainer, O’Sullivan is looking forward to seeing what the NZB Kiwi does for an industry he has spent most of his life immersed in, and more importantly, having the Wexford brand play a major role.

“It’s exciting to have the biggest prizemoney in the Southern hemisphere for three-year-olds, who would’ve thought that would happen?” O’Sullivan said. “It’s great for the industry, it’s new and creates a lot of interest.

“It’s important for Wexford, we wanted to be a part of the big dance and to have two horses in the race, it’s fantastic.”

The O’Sullivan and Scott partnership already has Sought After (NZ) in the feature under Waikato Stud’s slot, while fellow three-year-old stable performers including Sethito (NZ), Hankee Alpha (NZ), Prosegur (NZ) and Cheaha (AUS) also feature in futures markets for the race.

O’Sullivan hopes others in the stable will get their opportunity now that the son of Mongolian Khan has been locked in.

“That was one of the reasons why we went early,” he said.

“We have some nice horses there and we felt it was best to state who we were going to take in case anyone else had any interest in the others.

“It’s nice to be able to produce horses that warrant running in the big event. It’s going to be a very exciting day.”

Owned and bred by Okaharau Station, Checkmate currently holds equal favouritism for the NZB Kiwi at $8, alongside Australian-trained Evaporate (NZ) and star colt Savaglee (NZ).

Other confirmed runners for the race include Damask Rose (NZ) (Te Akau Racing), Domain Ace (NZ) (Canterbury Jockey Club), Evaporate (TAB) and Sought After (Waikato Stud).

The NZB Kiwi will be run on Champions Day on 8 March at Ellerslie Racecourse.

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