Yourdeel holds all the aces in Slipper
CLASSY youngster Yourdeel gave his rivals a galloping lesson when he cleared out over the final stages of the Waikato Stud Slipper (1200m), at Matamata yesterday.
The Dundeel two-year-old was having his first run since deadheating for third behind stablemates Probabeel and Aotea Lad in the rich Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie last month.
This time Yourdeel turned the tables on Aotea Lad as he sat nicely in the trail for rider Matt Cameron, before being angled into the clear. The Jamie Richards-trained youngster quickly dashed away from his rivals before easing down to beat Aotea Lad by a conservative four lengths, with pacemaker Moeraki fighting on gamely for third.
‘‘His work had been really strong, although I had been a little worried about the track,’’ Richards said.
‘‘He’s a pretty exciting horse. ‘‘He has always shown us a little bit of ability but was pretty colty in the spring. As soon as we got that out of the road, he has really turned the corner and turned into a racehorse.
‘‘He’s enjoyed a bit of a freshen up so hopefully it is onwards and upwards into the Sistema (Stakes, 1200m) from here.’’ Part-owner Chris Rutten was on hand to witness the victory after outlaying $100,000 to purchase the son of Red Ransom mare Miss Zapper from the Little Avondale Stud draft in 2018. ‘‘Jamie was giving us really good reports through the week and said we should expect something this weekend, although you never know.
‘‘I like the look of this horse as he looked like he would go early, and I buy early types. ‘‘Being from Sam Williams’ draft I brought three from there and they have all been winners.’’ Rutten was referring to Per Incanto three-year-old Arturo, who won at Wanganui on debut, along with Towkay three-yearold Morpheus, who was a winner in Singapore earlier in the month. The victory also brought up a winning treble for
Cameron, who had earlier scored on Concert Hall and Maison Roxanne.