Kennedy primed for premierships
Warren Kennedy can take a giant leap towards tying up the three New Zealand jockeys’ premierships that matter in one meeting at Te Rapa today.
The expat South African jockey has become a cult hero for punters here in the past 18 months and goes into today’s meeting leading the jockeys’ ranks on all three metrics: wins, black-type wins and stakemoney won.
Kennedy is 13 wins clear of Michael McNab on the table and has already won more than $5 million in stakes, a New Zealand record, and is $200,000 clear of Craig Grylls who, along with Joe Doyle, has had a huge big-race winning season.
Kennedy also has 16 black-type wins, always a source of pride in the jockeys’ room, with Doyle and Opie Bosson on 12 each, although none of Bosson’s Australian heroics this season count on the New Zealand scoreboard.
To lead the premiership on three different levels is remarkable considering Kennedy was unknown here 20 months ago.
He has set his sights on winning the overall premiership and has a target he thinks will put him comfortably on his way.
“I would like to get a break of 15 on Nabba [McNab], or anybody else who is chasing, to feel comfortable about the premiership,” said Kennedy.
“So until that happens, I’ll still ride at most of the South Island meetings, but if I can get a decent break on the field, then I might ease up in July.”
By then, the black-type premiership will be as good as won, with so few black-type races in the depths of winter, while the big stakes also start to dry up, although in that premiership, Grylls and Doyle at least have a shot at overhauling Kennedy.
Which is why today at Te Rapa, with black-type and $150,000 feature-race stakes, is so important and Kennedy thinks he has the right equine ammunition to further his ambitions.
December is the favourite for a stacked $100,000 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes and Kennedy has a high opinion of the three-from-five winner.
“He was really good last start and I think he’s a group horse, maybe even a Group 1 horse one day,” he told the Weekend Herald.
Kennedy isn’t so sure about his winning chances in the $150,000 Travis Stakes, as his mount Saint Alice meets a hot favourite in Apostrophe, but the star jockey says punters shouldn’t be worried about her stepping back up to 2000m from 1600m.
“She won well at 2000m two starts ago, and while she hasn’t raced for a while, I rode her in trackwork on Tuesday and she’s fit and ready.”
Her $2.10 place price looks one of the better punting plays.
Kennedy’s ride in the moved Manco Easter is going the other way, with Snazzytavi down in distance from two recent 2000m efforts back to 1600m today.
“I don’t mind that for her because she can over-race a bit at 2000m, and with them going harder over the mile, she might settle better.”
The Easter is crammed with winning chances, though, and Te Rapa track manager Bart Cowan is confident he can provide most of them with a suitable surface which was rated a soft7 yesterday.
“Most of the rain seems to have gone, so I think we’ll get back to a soft6 for raceday,” said Cowan. “The rail moves back into the true, so there will be 10m of ground there that hasn’t been raced on for 12 weeks.”
That coupled with a new track renovation that saw 194 tonnes of sand added to the Te Rapa surface should have today’s track providing as good a footing as can be hoped for at this time of year.
Further afield, New Zealand trainers have strong chances in the Australasian Oaks and Robert Sangster Stakes in Adelaide, with both A$1m races wide open.