Packing Eagle soars high at Rotorua

Punters made Splurge the ruling favourite in Saturday’s Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) at Rotorua. But it was his half-brother Packing Eagle paying $14 who stole the honours in the $70,000 Group III weight-forage feature.

Racing in Hong Kong as Packing Pins, he won six of his 19 starts for trainer Ricky Yiu before joining the Cambridge stable of Trevor and Martin Cruz.

The brothers’ mother Angel races the gelding who has reverted to his original name of Packing Eagle, under which he won three trials for Matamata trainers Ken and Bev Kelso before heading to Hong Kong.

‘‘His [Hong Kong] owners thought it best to retire him, but he didn’t have any injury and we were fortunate enough to get him,’’ Trevor Cruz said. ‘‘He’s a very talented horse and he hasn’t lost that hunger for racing.’’

He showed that when jockey Trudy Thornton set him alight from back in Saturday’s field.

He quickly conquered his opponents and raced away for an easy win over Scapolo and Salamanca.

"He’s still got the Hong Kong form and he’s been waiting to show it,’’ Cruz said.

He’s been waiting for a good track and he found it at Rotorua and also enjoyed the solid pace set by Irish Moon.

‘‘He races best off the speed and fortunately today there was a little bit of pace on and it worked in his favour,’’ Cruz said.