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The Melbourne Spring of 2015 saw the reemergence of New Zealand gallopers to the summit of Australasia’s best Group 1 performers.
The Sydney Autumn was a dress rehearsal with Volkstok’n’barell and Mongolian Khan winning the Rosehill Guineas and Australian Derby respectively, the latter following up in Melbourne with a resounding Caulfield Cup win.
The real surprise packet among the New Zealand contingent was the Murray Baker-trained Turn Me Loose, who followed up a Flemington listed class placing with a Seymour Cup win. Turn Me Loose then achieved a Moonee Valley Crystal mile victory, before attaining his Group 1 status in the Emirates Mile at Flemington, a race that he dominated from the front.
That race hasn’t been won by a leader since Bezeal Bay in 1998, and is something not even champion three year olds So You Think or Weekend Hussler could achieve in attempting to do so. The sky looks to be the limit for him, with trainer Murray Baker keen to test him out to 2000 metres, so we may well see him in next years Cox Plate, if not before this Autumn.
With or without him early next year, there are two New Zealanders at home who are almost certain to make their presence felt.
Kawi may not be the second coming of Kiwi, but he is definitely a horse to be reckoned with, and followed with some confidence. He broke his Group 1 duck in late August in the Makfi challenge at 1400m leaving Turn Me Loose in his wake, some three and a half lengths astern.
Fortune took a turn for the worse following that with an abandoned Windsor Park Plate Group 1 meeting at Hastings on the morning of his next assignment. A couple of weeks later the horse sustained a minor injury which threatened to scupper his Spring/Summer preparation. But he returned with a vengeance at Awapuni in October, before two frustrating victories where he wasn’t beaten far and certainly not disgraced.
He toned back to 1400m at Awapuni on December 19 and followed up a week later (last Saturday) winning his second Group 1 race, the Zabeel Classic off a gem of a ride by Leith Innes, his first at Ellerslie. It was one that also represented his first victory from five attempts on a right handed track. It was also his first at 2000m. That took his career record to 10 wins and 7 placings from 21 career starts which is starting to look an imposing record.
It would be better too if not for slowly run races, awkward barriers and lack of fitness. He is not a horse really suited by small fields and wide draws. He is more a no frills street fighter type of galloper (in the mould of Northerly), who gives his all whatever the circumstances.
It seems to me the tougher the test the more likely he is to rise to the occasion. You couldn’t get a cleaner and more honestly run race than the Makfi Challenge back in the early Spring, which was a win that illustrated his true ability. His short term goal would appear to be the Australian Cup, and no doubt his shrewd trainer Allan Sharrock will have him primed for a big performance.
The Australian Guineas is definitely the target for the boom Stephen Autridge trained three year old Xtravagant. The half brother to the well performed Roger James trained He’s Remarkable (lost Perth Railway Stakes on protest to Luckygray) has taken New Zealand by storm in recent months winning the Trentham Wellington Guineas trial, along with the Group 1 2000 Guineas for his own age at Riccarton two weeks later by an astounding 8.5 lengths.
In doing so he eclipsed the time that Turn Me Loose recorded in the very same race in 2014 by 1.41 seconds. It truly was a performance to take one’s breath away, and one that definitely reverberated over the Tasman to Australia.
He resumed on Saturday in the New Zealand Herald Stakes. It was hardly a tough run (despite his big weight), given the overall time he recorded. I’m yet to see the sectionals of the race but I’d assume he ran home his last 600m fairly quickly off a moderately run first 800m.
A quick look at his career thus far brings up two interesting statistics- He is 4/4 at 1400m and beyond, and 4/4 when he gets right on the pace in his races. Those four wins have an accumulated winning margin of 20 lengths, and he is an awesome prospect set to excite Australian racegoers in the coming months. I can’t remember a New Zealand three year old that has come here with a bigger reputation than he has right at this moment.
Four-year-old mare Stolen Dance deserves a mention after her stunning effort to get within a neck or so of Kawi in the Zabeel Classic on Saturday. That was her first start beyond 1600m which followed three consecutive wins.
Her versatility is remarkable, highlighted not only by a career record of 8 wins and 3 placings from 13 starts, but also an ability to position anywhere in a race and finish it off with gusto. Apart from a race where she was pulled up (rider though she had sustained a serious injury) and finished last, she has not finished further back than fourth (two lengths) in her career, and you could say her young trainer David Greene is ‘living the dream’.
I’m not sure what the plans are for her, but she is an exciting prospect, and I have no doubt she would have run past a lesser horse than Kawi to win on Saturday.
The Murray Baker-trained Pipi Beel ran on resolutely to be beaten half a length by Stolen Dance in the Isuzu Stakes at Te Rapa on December 12, prior to that mares’ excellent effort at Ellerslie in the Zabeel Classic. That took her career record to three wins and three placings from six starts (only failure on debut).
She was poorly weighted at Te Rapa given her record, yet she very nearly prevailed after being last at one stage. It would seem she can only get better, and I’m sure she will venture over the ditch at some stage if Murray Baker holds the same opinion as I do. Look out for her in New Zealand over the summer carnival though, as she might be ready to plunder some of the better races in her own backyard.
I don’t expect to see the exciting and unbeaten Hasselhoof here this Autumn, more likely next Spring, but he has continued on his winning way in two races since I wrote this article. His progress can be followed with interest in New Zealand, quite likely this Saturday in the Ellerslie Rich Hill Mile, which certainly represents his biggest test to date.
All in all it would appear there are exciting times ahead for New Zealand racing and it’s followers , and I’m sure they would like nothing better than to see their horseflesh take some more silverware home from across the Tasman. The timing to do so looks good with Australian gallopers not exactly setting the world on fire, with the obvious exception of the brilliant mare Winx.
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