Gatland-owned Azaboy kicks on at Pukekohe
A bold front-running ride by jockey’s premiership leader Samantha Collett landed local runner Azaboy a handsome winner of the Gr.2 Valachi Downs Championship Stakes (2200m) at Pukekohe.
Part owned by ex-pat Kiwi and Welsh rugby coach Warren Gatland, the Azamour three-yearold had shown he could handle a testing track when he beat the well-regarded Mongolian Marshal to break his maiden on a Heavy11 surface on his home track back in February.
Collett was at her pace-making best as she dictated a muddling speed in front before booting clear on Azaboy rounding the home bend. Sent for home the nuggety bay never looked like flinching as he held out all challenges to register a length and a quarter victory from the well favoured Gundown, who pipped Azaboy’s stablemate Time Lord for second by a nose.
Trainer Richard Collett had Azaboy tuned up for his first attempt at stakes company with a win over a similar distance at his last run and was feeling confident as the rain came before the race.
‘‘The showers of rain on the day, including the last one before the race was held, really did help as it slowed the other ones down,’’ he said.
‘‘He’s tough horse who has been a real slow maturer.’’
Collett was delighted with both of his runners as he had found it hard to split them before the race.
‘‘To be fair there’s never been much between him (Azaboy) and Time Lord,’’ said Collett. ‘‘We’ll have to see how he comes through the race as he is such a light framed horse before we look at anything else.
‘‘I’m not sure but we might have a go at something later on in Queensland, but he will have to have the constitution to handle it.’’
Race favourite Sherrif loomed into contention on the home bend but never appeared to handle the heavy track conditions as he battled home into a well beaten fifth. Meanwhile local trainer Nigel Tiley achieved a perfect result on his home patch when he provided the quinella in the day’s feature event, the Gr.2 Manco Easter Handicap (1600m).
In a masterful training performance Tiley produced talented stayer Megablast fresh-up off a sixmonth break to score a decisive victory from stablemate Brighton with the well fancied Romancer battling strongly into third.
Media reports during the week indicated Tiley was bullish about the prospects of Megablast who hadn’t raced since finishing midfield in the Gr.1 Livamol Classic (2040m) back in October. That confidence was borne out of the six-year-olds impressive freshup statistics that included a victory over the same distance at Ellerslie to commence his last campaign plus his ability to handle rain-affected tracks.
‘‘Everything fell into place for him as he’s a horse who races well fresh,’’ said Tiley as he accepted congratulations after the race.
‘‘I wanted to get him ready firstup as I thought he could do it.
‘‘When he first came back into work he was a different horse, just so much stronger, so this was always the plan.’’
Tiley was also rapt with the performance of Brighton who coincidentally had won one of the day’s other feature events, the Listed Diamond Lodge Champagne Stakes (1600m), as a two- year-old back in 2015.
‘‘He’s (Brighton) flying,’’ he said. ‘‘He hasn’t shown anything on a wet track for a while, but he had been working well.’’
Tiley will now recommend a Queensland campaign for Megablast although he admitted he hadn’t discussed that eventuality with gelding’s owners before the race.
‘‘I think we might have to go to Queensland on that,’’ he said. ‘‘I haven’t discussed it with the owner’s yet, but I’ll get them now.
‘‘He’s such an honest horse that just eats wet tracks but also tries so hard on top of the ground.’’
With the victory Megablast advanced his career record to nine wins from just 28 starts with close to $270,000 in stakes earnings. Lisa Allpress was both surprised and full of praise for Saint Emilion after the Cambridge warhorse fought back to score in a thrilling finish to the Gr.3 Coca-Cola Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m) at Riccarton on Saturday.
After leading from the outset, the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Saint Emilion was headed early in the run home by Who Dares Wins and looked set to settle for second placing.
But then inside the final 50 metres he came back determinedly at Who Dares Wins and the pair went to the finish of the $100,000 feature locked in a titanic battle.
Sam Wynne, aboard Who Dares Win, felt she had won when raising her whip in triumph after the post, but then doubt crept in as she looked across at Allpress and asked who she thought had won.
‘‘Sam was going off and I sat there,’’ Allpress said. ‘‘I didn’t think I’d got there.
‘‘I knew he was coming back, but the other horse had a neck on me and I didn’t think we’d got up in time.’’
But the photo-finish went the way of Saint Emilion by a nose, giving the six-year-old win number 14 in his career, which includes Group One success two starts earlier in the Bonecrusher NZ Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie.
‘‘He’s very tough and he wasn’t going to give in,’’ Allpress said. ‘‘It was a hard ride and at first I would have been happy for a deadheat, but a win is better.’’
Allpress was having her first ride on the son of Mastercraftsman and had plotted where she wanted to be on the track in the home straight.
‘‘There was a nice strip of grass just off the fence, but he wandered off it into the straight and the other horse (Who Dares Wins) came through on it,’’ she said.
‘‘I had purposely stayed off the fence and I wanted to get back on that strip. When he did get back on it he came back at the other horse.
Saint Emilion went more than a year without success after winning the Gr.3 OMF Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie in November 2016. He ended that losing streak when scoring fresh-up over 1500 metres a couple of months ago and has now won three of his last four starts.
Who Dares Wins has also done well this season, winning three races and being a model of consistency for trainers Tony and Lyn Prendergast.
Boots ‘N’ All, another honest performer, ran on strongly for third, a length behind Who Dares Wins, while Son Of Zac came from last for fourth.
Invercargill horsewoman Sally McKay went through a nerve-wracking week getting Courte Zarindi to the final leg of the NZ Bloodstock Southern Filly of the Year event with a big boil, but then had to withstand the pressure of an inquiry before being able to celebrate victory in the 2000m feature.