Boxachocolates to Melbourne
The connections of Boxachocolates have sent the lightly tried stayer to Australia for a sweeter future.
They believe the Alamosa fiveyearold has become too difficult to place in New Zealand and he has headed to Melbourne where he will be trained by Stephen Brown at Flemington.
‘‘I’ve got 25 horses and we looked after Boxachocolates and now he’s gone instead of running in our cup races,’’ former trainer Mike Breslin said.
‘‘There’s been no falling out between the owners and I, and I don’t blame them the way things are.’’
The trans-Tasman move was prompted following Boxachocolates’ win off a 54kg minimum at Awapuni in December.
‘‘There wasn’t a Rating 85 for him so we had to run in the Cup Prelude, a $35,000 race and he got 17 points – that was only the fourth win of his life,’’ Breslin said.
‘‘Authentic Paddy, a Group One winner, and Ocean Emperor, who won the Group Two at Tauranga, were in the field, but the handicapper didn’t use any discretion and my horse went from the minimum to 58.5kg.’’
Off a Rating 88 a week later in the Gr 3 Manawatu Cup (2100m), Boxachocolates was unplaced.
‘‘I rang Racing Victoria and said to them that I was considering bringing the horse over and they said he would be rated 78,’’ Breslin said.
‘‘When I relayed that to the owners and it wasn’t really a surprise that they decided to send him to a Melbourne trainer.’’