Two major wins as big guns step up
Two big wins in as many days has laid the platform for the stars of the powerful Te Akau team to take on Australia’s best stayers.
At Hastings on Saturday Gingernuts added the Windsor Park Plate to his New Zealand Derby and Rosehill Guineas wins from last season, while a day later at Pukekohe stable newcomer Chance To Dance stamped his presence with a first-up win in the Karaka Classic.
Gingernuts had returned to racing with an unlucky fifth in the Tarzino Trophy at Hastings earlier this month and on Saturday attracted a flood of bets.
With a superb Opie Bosson ride, the chestnut charged down the outside to beat Tarzino Trophy winner Close Up and defending champion Kawi.
Gingernuts had for weeks been the TAB’s early favourite for the Livamol Classic back at Hastings on Saturday week, but his emphatic return to form has brought his odds into an unbackable $2.
Trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards will go into the Livamol double-handed after Chance To Dance put up a big finish to narrowly win the feature 1600-metre race at Pukekohe.
Chance To Dance, an Irishbred gelding who races in the Fortuna Syndication colours of last season’s champion two-yearold Melody Belle, joined Te Akau last April when he was bought at an auction over in Australia for $260,000.
In his first start he finished second in the Sydney Cup, only for that race to be voided due to two horses falling with a round to go in the Randwick two-miler.
In a rerun two weeks later Chance To Dance finished fifth and returned to racing on Sunday over a distance much shorter than he prefers and carrying topweight of 60 kilograms.
Bursting between runners, the eight-year-old left no doubts that he has serious prospects in major races on the horizon.
While Gingernuts is the hot favourite for the Livamol Classic, Chance To Dance now shares the second line at $7 on the TAB fixed odds market and if he runs up to his Pukekohe form he may join Gingernuts at the Melbourne spring carnival.
The Caulfield Cup on October 21 is the big mission for Gingernuts, while a decision has yet to be made whether he will also run in this year’s Melbourne Cup.