El Soldado gives reminder of class
WET track or dry track, it doesn’t matter to veteran stayer El Soldado.
The tough 10-year-old son of Colombia hadn’t won since he caused a massive upset at $125 in the Auckland Cup in March on a firm track.
He was ridden to perfection by Darryl Bradley that day, but the ride of Samantha Collett in yesterday’s $100,000 Avondale Cup was perfection-plus.
Jumping from gate eight on a slow track, she let the Phillip Devcich-trained and co-owned galloper freewheel to the lead.
Collett allowed him to find his rhythm and he relaxed beautifully which allowed him to produce a fighting finish to hold out Megablast with Mister Impatience third and Five To Midnight fourth.
Punters had ignored him once again and he was $101 on the final field and $69 on the tote.
‘‘That was an amazing effort,’’ Devcich said. ‘‘He’s just kept on going – that’s how he runs.
‘‘He’s improved a lot in the last couple of weeks and it’s on to the Auckland Cup again. I want to give him one more run beforehand which will either be at Matamata next Saturday or in the Nathans.’’
The Kaimai Stakes (2000m) is the race at Matamata and the Nathans Memorial (2200m) is run on March 4 at Ellerslie with the Cup (3200m) a week later.
He’s at $21 in fixed odds markets for the race.
A wet track was made to order for upset winner Gingernuts in the $1 million NZ Derby leadup, the Group II Avondale Guineas (2100m).
Trouble is he hasn’t been entered for the 2400m classic on March 4.
‘‘Well, he’s not in,’’ said cotrainer Jamie Richards when asked about Derby prospects for the son of Iffraaj.
‘‘I guess we’ve got to have a good sit down with the owners and I think a late entry will be going in on Tuesday. ‘‘It was quite a serious win.’’ Serious indeed, particularly in light of the fact the gelding completely blew the start, giving all runners a five-length start.
Jockey Johnathan Parkes was as cool as a cucumber, letting the horse find his feet and taking all the short cuts on offer before dashing home along the inside to swamp his rivals.
Charles Road ran well for second as did third placed Mongolian Wolf and Redeem The Dream finishing fourth after making the pace.
Four of the last five Derby winners have won the Avondale Guineas.
Earlier on the programme, Tavidream beat another highly regarded 3-year-old Sacred Way home in the Rating 65 over 1500m to give retired master trainer Jim Gibbs and his wife Anne a milestone win.
It was their 100th success as owners since Gibbs retired from training nine years ago and they have become involved in racing a TRISH DUNELL number of thoroughbreds and standardbreds.
Tavidream is trained by Gibbs’ son Chris and Donna Logan as are two of the best he has shares in, Volkstok’n’barrell and Hasselhoof.
Former Gibbs’ apprentice Cameron Lammas rode the winner to perfection for his former boss.
Australian-bound Eleonora lost no admirers despite being narrowly beaten by the Peter and Dawn-Williams trained Grovano in the Open 1500.
The rain persuaded the Williams stable to run the winner over a distance short of his best.
‘‘He’s really done a good job this season,’’ Peter Williams said.
He was using yesterday’s race to get ready for the upcoming Nathans Handicap which could lead to a Hawke’s Bay Cup attempt.
Meanwhile, Eleonora is on her way to Sydney for a campaign that could culminate in an AJC Oaks start for trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman. MATAMATA trainer Glenn Old followed in his father’s footsteps at Pukekura Raceway yesterday.
Old’s father Kevin won four successive Caltex Gold Cups at New Plymouth with grand stayer Seven Forty Seven with Glenn taking out the 2017 version, the Platinum Homes Taranaki Cup, with Our King Sway.
The 6-year-old Shinko King gelding proved too strong to the line in the Group III $80,000 race over 1800m, as he outlasted Reefton Cup winner Overtheriver by a long neck.
The win was also a celebration for apprentice jockey Anna Jones who racked up her 100th winner.
The winner of four of his 26 starts, Our King Sway has often been his own worst enemy as he gets back and finds trouble more often than not in his runs.
That was the case in his last start when he finished fifth in the Counties Cup, less than two lengths from the winner Consensus.
‘‘They often run off him and leave him flat footed, so he just got a bit of luck today,’’ Glenn Old said.
There was plenty of celebrations coming from the owners in the bird cage as they repeatedly praised Jones for her ride after asking her to get moving at the 1000m pre-race.
Old, too, was delighted with the ride of Jones while he thought the soft track conditions also suited his horse.
‘‘She rode to instructions perfectly as he always fights to the line, you never have to worry about that.’’
Plans for Our King Sway will start with a ‘‘freshen up’’ before they head to Tauranga for the Japan Trophy.
‘‘He likes right handed better and we’ll keep him fresh for that.’’
Jones was naturally delighted to bring up her first major milestone in a group race.
‘‘It certainly was a great way to do it,’’ she said. ‘‘It’s just so lovely to win it for a Matamata trainer as well because they just support me so much.’’
Jones said she got on to the back of former top performer Nashville who took her into the race perfectly. ‘‘I just left it down to the King to finish it off. It’s pretty hard to top.’’
Stratford Cup winner Cruiser was third, a further neck away.
Taranaki trainer Allan Sharrock gave locals some hope of victory down the straight with Twoznotenough, who finished a solid fourth, a further long neck away.