Sam’s celebrations on hold
A Group I win and a New Zealand Cup victory, you might think you would know how Sam Spratt would be celebrating but you are most likely wrong.
Spratt’s special day at Riccarton on Saturday began with her first victory in the 1000 Guineas and finished with an all the way win in the $250,000 Group III Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup (3200m) aboard Gobstopper.
Spratt was due to fly back to Auckland on Saturday evening and the celebrations were set to be very muted.
‘‘I’m not going out, I will be cleaning tomorrow,’’ Spratt said.
‘‘My house is going on the market so I’ve got a day of cleaning ahead.’’
There was no chance she could forget what she was doing on Sunday. Fellow jockey Danielle Johnson dropped plenty of friendly jibes to remind Spratt a quiet night was in store following Gobstopper’s victory.
Spratt was in Canterbury to ride Hasahalo, her winning mount, in the Group I 1000 Guineas and picked up the ride on Gobstopper as a consequence.
If Hasahalo had not have been in the Guineas, it was unlikely Spratt would have been at Riccarton.
She was thankful she had taken the advice of her agent Mike Brown and Hasahalo’s trainer Stephen McKee.
‘‘I was thinking Tauranga would be a lot easier to get to from home but they told me I was going to Riccarton,’’ Spratt said.
‘‘Just as well I listened.’’ Spratt’s daring ride aboard the Andrew Campbell trained Gobstopper drew praise from all directions.
At times she was out on her own by around seven lengths on the way to what was also her first New Zealand Cup win.
Campbell, who was starting his first runner from is new Cambridge base, conceded it had not been the plan to lead but he was full of admiration for Spratt’s courageous tactics.
‘‘It was a great ride in the end,’’ he said.
Spratt, who had ridden Gobstopper at the trials but never on race day, was not planning it that way either but found herself in front with a settled horse.
‘‘My main thing was just to get him into his rhythm. I just had to get him off the bridle and cruising along,’’ she said.
Gobstopper eventually won the 154th running of the race by three and a half lengths to return $7.30 for the win.
Race favourite Pentathlon was second with Kaharau a further halflength behind in third.
Campbell, who recently relocated to Cambridge from Opaki, was not concerned that Gobstopper was having just his third start since August and first over 3200m.
‘‘He’s a lightly-framed horse so he doesn’t need much racing,’’ he said.
Like his full brother and $5 million earner Werther - who was trained by Campbell but is now based in Hong Kong - Cambell is confident Gobstopper will improve with age.
‘‘He’s going out to the paddock for a couple of three weeks for a spell and we’ll see how he comes through it,’’ he said.
Gobstopper holds a nomination for the Group I Auckland Cup (3200m) in March and Campbell said it was a likely target if everything went to plan.
The lightly raced five-year-old Tavistock gelding was full of running in the closing stages and never looked like being beaten.
‘‘He could have easily gone around again,’’ Spratt said.
Precocious youngster Al Hasa earned lavish praise from Opie Bosson following a spectacular display at Riccarton.
The handsome son of Exceed And Excel turned Saturday’s Welcome Stakes (1000m) into a procession and was hard held by the top jockey at the post.
“He’s a top class horse, one of the nicest two-year-olds I’ve sat on for quite a while,” Bosson said.
“He’s a Karaka Million horse and maybe even the Golden Slipper.”
The colt was offered at Karaka earlier this year by Cambridge Stud and Te Akau principal David Ellis went to $625,000 to secure the first foal of the Oasis Dream mare Oasis Rose, who finished runner-up behind Sacred Falls in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas in 2012.