Beefeater boosts birthday
CHRISTOPHER Grace’s celebrations were topped off in style at New Plymouth yesterday.
The prominent Hunterville breeder and owner’s familiar green jacket and gold sleeves were home at the head of the Platinum Homes Taranaki Cup (1800m) after jockey Rosie Myers guided Beefeater to victory.
‘‘It’s Christopher’s birthday today so this is a good present,’’ Awapuni trainer Roydon Bergerson said. ‘‘I thought the horse would be a big chance.’’
A winner two runs back, Beefeater came into the race off the back of a fourth placing in the Anniversary Hcp (1600m).
‘‘He came through Trentham well and he probably needed the race at Wellington after missing a run at Awapuni,’’ Bergerson said.
Beefeater has now won six of his 23 starts and a crack at the Group One Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa next Saturday is now up for discussion.
A son of Alamosa, Beefeater settled back in the field before Myers put the pre-race plan into action.
‘‘I said to Rosie to get him going at the 600m mark and keep him rolling, he’s a big horse and it was a good ride,’’ Bergerson said.
Beefeater strode to the front in the straight and fought off the challenge of Scapolo, who was giving the winner six and a-half kilos, to win by a neck with Travimyfriend a solid third in front of
Brighton.
‘‘You can’t afford to get held up on him and when we got to the front he pulled up,’’ Myers said.
‘‘To his credit though, when Scapolo came up he really fought hard.’’
❚ TALENTED youngster Bit Lippy deservedly broke through for the first victory of his fledgling career at New Plymouth with a no-nonsense performance.
The Matamata youngster had placed in each of his previous three starts, all in black type company, and he capped that form with success in the Phoenix Park 2YO Classic (1200m).
Bit Lippy finished second on debut behind Melt in the Ashford Park 2YO Stakes (1100m) at Pukekohe and he again finished runner-up to the unbeaten filly in the Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie.
In between times, the Showcasing gelding ran third in the Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1200m) at Trentham.
‘‘He didn’t jump out so well in his last couple, but he got home well at Wellington after it took some time for him to get out and the leader was gone,’’ trainer Wayne Hillis said.
Bit Lippy cleared the gates smartly for rider Cameron Lammas to take a handy sit one off the fence, before improving three-wide across the top.
They were in front soon after straightening and had no trouble keeping the challenge of Platinum Mam’selle at bay in the closing 200m.
Handsome Rebel made late ground to cut Wisdom Patch out of third money.
‘‘He’s learning all the time and I couldn’t be happier with him’’ Hillis said.
❚ TONY PIKE can’t hide his regard for his New Zealand Oaks (2400m) candidate Treasure.
‘‘I think she’s one of the best staying fillies that I’ve trained,’’ said the Cambridge conditioner, who won the 2013 edition of the Trentham classic with More Than Sacred.
‘‘We’ve always had a massive opinion of her, she’s just taken a few runs to work things out and the blinkers have helped her.’’
The subject of a hefty betting plunge, Treasure showed she was on an upward plane when she produced an impressive display to beat her stablemate Caricature in the Fasttrack Insurance Oaks Prelude (1800m).
She settled midfield on the fence before rider Michael McNab angled into the clear across the top and the filly was too good in the straight, winning by two-and-a-half lengths.
‘‘We were pretty confident with the winner,’’ Pike said. ‘‘It’s nice when a plan comes off.
‘‘We wanted to get today out of the way and now we’ll sit down and decide whether she goes to the Lowland Stakes, or the Sunline Vase before Wellington.’’
A daughter of Mastercraftsman, she is out of the O’Reilly mare Penny Whistle who is a half-sister to the dam of Pike’s Auckland Cup (3200m) winner Chenille.
Treasure was at odds of $81 when the market for the New Zealand Oaks market was first released and she is now down to $12.
Pike said he was also more than satisfied with the performance of Caricature.
‘‘She’s still quite new and dumb,’’ he said. ‘‘She was bit tardily away and had to work to be outside of the leader, she was pretty brave in the straight.’’
The longshot Luxe came home well from the back of the field for third.