Yourdeel too tough in Sistema Stakes

[Chief Stipe]

Yourdeel (left) proves too tough for Aalaalune and Aretha in the Sistema Stakes.

A wide and keen passage through the early stages was still not enough to blunt a determined Yourdeel as he claimed the first Group One two-year-old race of the season at Ellerslie today.

Yourdeel jumped from the outside gate as the odds-on favourite in the Sistema Stakes and with Rainbow Dash charging through to take the early lead, he proved a handful for his rider Bosson as he attempted to match strides with the filly.

Whereas Rainbow Dash stayed down towards the inside rail, Bosson maintained a wide run in the hope of better ground, but after turning for home with a narrow lead, he looked a sitting duck.

Bavella threw out the most likely challenge as Leith Innes angled her to the very outside and she hit the front with 250 metres to run. Inside her, however, Yourdeel was still in for the fight, as was Aretha, while Aalaalune was looming with her trademark late finish.

All the while Bosson was waiting and waiting, and just as Aalaalune threatened a big result for trainer Jacob McKay and rider Reese Jones, Yourdeel fought back and wrested back the lead by a short head, with another long head to Aretha.

It was a classic Bosson ride, one that took him equal with Hall of Fame jockey Lance O’Sullivan on 62 New Zealand Group One wins. For winning trainer Jamie Richards it was a third Sistema Stakes victory from the last four editions.

“He pulled so hard early that I thought it would be too much for him in this ground,” Bosson said. “He wasn’t going to be beaten though, he’s just a good tough horse.”

Yourdeel, a son of New Zealand Horse of the Year Dundeel, is owned by a three-way partnership comprising Horowhenua horseman Chris Rutten, who selected him as a $100,000 Karaka yearling, John Norwood and Rod Preston.

This was a second Sistema (Diamond) Stakes win for Rutten and Norwood after their 2008 winner Vespa, who had won the Karaka Million at his previous start. Yourdeel’s effort to deadheat for third was one of eye-catching runs of this year’s Karaka Million, and he franked that form with a runaway win in last month’s Waikato Slipper at Matamata.

Richards labelled one more target this season for the showy bay, the Gr. 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes at the end of the month, with his long-term goal next spring the New Zealand 2000 Guineas.

 

 

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