Golden Slipper nom held for Unition
Impeccably bred two-year-old Unition showed plenty of grit as he made a winning debut at Pukekohe yesterday in the Listed Fasttrack Insurance 5K Bonus 2YO Stakes (1100m).
The Fastnet Rock colt, who races in the colours of his owner and breeder the China Horse Club, is out of Savabeel mare Diademe, who numbered the Group I New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) among her seven wins.
Prepared by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, Unition had caught the eye when winning an 800m trial at Cambridge in September before finishing second behind race-rival Amor Fati over the same distance at Avondale last month.
Rider Leith Innes took advantage of the colt’s inside barrier draw to settle outside the pacemaking Amor Fati in the early stages of the 1100m dash with favourite Cool Aza Beel behind the pair.
At the top of home straight Unition bounded to the lead but was tested by eventual runner-up Hasstobemagic. The pair fought a dogged struggle with Unition holding a long neck margin.
‘‘He’s a neat little horse, although when I say little, he’s actually quite big,’’ Innes said. ‘‘Very quiet going to the start but when he jumped out, he felt like a different horse, he felt like he’s got a good X-factor there.
‘‘He’s done things right and it won’t be his last win that’s for sure.’’ Co-trainer Baker admitted the stable held a high opinion of the colt who holds a nomination for the Group I Longines Golden Slipper (1200m) at Randwick next March. ‘‘We do rate him and were expecting a pretty good run from him,’’ Baker said. ‘‘We’ll take him home now and see how he pulls up but there is a possibility that we will take him to Trentham for the Wakefield Stakes (Group II, 1100m).’’