Soliloquy victory caps Latta’s day
FRESH from a break after successive black-type wins, Dijon Bleu was back down to business at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The slight but athletic Lisa Latta-trained filly capped off a wonderful day for the Awapuni stable with her win in the Listed Soliloquy Stakes (1400m).
Latta had earlier trained two winners at Trentham including Listed Wellesley Stakes hero Sir Nate.
‘‘It’s great for the stable after the results we had at Trentham earlier in the day,’’ said stable representative Andy Rennie, who also shares in the ownership of Dijon Bleu.
Dijon Bleu was sent out favourite by punters impressed with her runaway win in the Listed O’Leary’s Fillies’ Classic (1200m) at Wanganui before another dominant display to claim the Group III Hawke’s Bay Breeders’ Gold Trail Stakes (1200m) at Hastings.
After a short break following the Gold Trail, Latta set her for the Soliloquy as a lead-up to the Group I 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in a few weeks where she is on the second line of betting behind Prom Queen.
She justified her 1000 Guineas spot with an extraordinary performance to beat Saturday’s quality field.
A squeeze between runners at the jump forced jockey Leith Innes to ease the Burgundy filly and settle well back in the field.
She eased into her work and when her rider asked for an effort she quickly asserted her superiority.
She gave Innes a moment of anxiety when she shied, as first time Ellerslie visitors often do, half way up the home straight.
But trouble was avoided and with mind back on the task at hand, she won by a neck from Kapoor with Campari third.
‘‘Leith said she didn’t have a lot go her way in the early stages of the race, so for her to pick herself up and win was fantastic,’’ Rennie said. ‘‘She just keeps stepping up to the plate.’’
Kapoor will head to Riccarton as will Campari who opened with TAB odds-setters at $17.50 for the Solioquy and smashed into $7.50 in fixed markets by race morning.
Dijon Bleu was already the $7 second favourite for the 1000 Guineas and the TAB responded to the win by tightening her quote to $4.
A professional front-running performance brought Crystallize TRISH DUNELL victory in the 2-year-old race over high-priced yearling Al Hasa and almost certainly secured himself a place in the field for the Karaka Million.
Crystallize was a $52,500 purchase at Karaka, was sent straight to the lead by rider Alysha Collett and was tackled and headed in the straight by Al Hasa, an Exceed And Excel-Oasis Rose colt who cost $625,000 as a yearling.
Crystallize fought back to regain the lead in an exciting finish to score by a head.
‘‘He’s won $13,500 now, and in previous years that’s been enough to get into the Karaka Million field,’’ trainer Danny Walker said. ‘‘That takes the pressure off a bit. We can give him a bit of a break and take our time with him.’’
‘‘It was good to give him a nice look around Ellerslie today, he handled it well.’’ THE babies fought out an exciting finish in the Listed Wellesley Stakes at Trentham.
A favoured northern invasion saw punters overlook Sir Nate but the Awapuni colt came out on top with an outstanding effort in the feature.
The son of Nadeem had won the season’s first 2-year-old race at Wanganui last month but in the Wellesley build-up all the talk was for Waikato visitors Masque from the Rogerson barn and Te Akauowned filly Queen Of The Air.
Settling ideally during the 1000m sprint, Sir Nate produced a well-timed run for jockey Masa Tanaka to beat first-starter King Louis with Masque and Queen Of The Air the next home in a stirring contest.
The $65,000 yearling purchase at Karaka was syndicated among clients of Lisa Latta’s stable.
‘‘It’s a fantastic group of owners that was put together after we bought him at the sales,’’ Latta said. ‘‘Results like this are great for the game.
‘‘It was hard to get a line on him today, he’d only won a threehorse race and was up against a couple of smart northerners with big reputations. He did it very well.
‘‘He’s still learning. He’s so laid-back and hasn’t been switched on yet.
‘‘He deserves a bit of a let up now and we’ll look at Ellerslie over the New Year period to give him one run and look at the Karaka Million.’’
The John Bary-trained debutant, the Equiano colt King Louis produced a top run for second after cornering awkwardly but he finished off strongly down the outside of the track.
King Louis is bred and raced by Richard and Liz Wood’s Chouxmaani Investments Ltd, the breeders and owners of champion colt of a few years ago Jimmy Choux.
Bary likened the good looking King Louis to his former star and on Saturday’s run there’ plenty to look forward to with the third and fourth placed losing few admirers.
‘‘He’s no relation to Jimmy Choux, but he reminds me a lot of him,’’ Bary said. ‘‘He’s a pretty cruisy horse, not much fazes him and he’ll improve three or four lengths.’’
The first four across the line could prove to be among the best of their age group as the season unfolds.