Sweet Leader records classy win
Just one other factor was as impressive as the planning that went into Saturday’s Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes win by Sweet Leader, and that was the way the hugely talented three-year- old dealt to his opposition.
Sweet Leader was having just his fifth start when Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott saddled him up for Saturday’s $70,000 feature, which coincided with his raceday debut for third at the same meeting 12 months earlier.
When he returned in the spring with easy wins in his first two starts the O’Reilly colt was set for the New Zealand 2000 Guineas, but at the same time a respiratory problem had surfaced and after an unplaced run he was taken out of training and sent for surgery.
Te Rapa on Saturday was Sweet Leader’s first public appearance since and he justified his connections’ confidence with a huge effort, storming down the outside from second-last in the 14-horse field to win the 1200-metre race by three-quarters of a length.
‘‘We thought about giving him a trial but his trackwork had been so good we decided against it,’’ said Lance O’Sullivan, who won the Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes three times as a jockey and once before as a trainer.
‘‘He’s got a lot of natural ability and it’s just a shame that the wind problem cropped up.
‘‘The surgery has helped him but he’s still not perfect in that department, so it could be that we’ll have to stick to sprinting rather than stepping him up in distance.
‘‘Don’t ask me what’s next for him,’’ he said immediately after Saturday’s race.
‘‘This is the race we set him for and there’s not a lot left on the local scene. I’ll be in Hong Kong this week and meeting with his owners, which will give us a better idea of where we go next.’’
Sweet Leader’s weekend win completed a feature race double for Craig Grylls, who two races earlier had combined with Cambridge mare Mime to win the $100,000 Travis Stakes.
That continued a bumper season for the 27-year- old jockey, whose current tally of 60 wins includes a personal best of 10 black-type races.
Another fresh-up Matamatatrained winner at Te Rapa was Brisbane-bound Splurge, who took his record to six wins from his last seven starts when he took the day’s open sprint with consummate ease.
That race followed just minutes after stablemate Grazia had won at Hastings and took the pair’s trainers Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards to 72 wins on the domestic premiership.
This week Splurge will be joined by Melody Belle and Jimmy Rae on a charter flight for Queensland winter carnival runners, while others in the Te Akau contingent already in the Sunshine State are three-year- old feature candidates Heroic Valour and Shocking Luck.
Peter McKay and his son Shaun combined for a Hastings double on Saturday as Amarula returned to the scene of his win in last season’s Hawke’s Bay Guineas to add the open sprint and De Niro got his act together with an impressive all-the- way performance.
It was a welcome return to form for the McKay stable and very timely too, as Peter and his wife Kim, who share in the ownership of both horses, prepared to back their bags for a holiday in Thailand.