Winner a Top Prospect
GERRY Harvey was on a roll at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The Australian principal of Westbury Stud won a race as owner of Rising Shot and bred the brilliant winner of the Listed Trevor Eagle Memorial.
Top Prospect is a galloper on the rise and was bred and sold by Harvey under the Westbury banner as a yearling to Auckland bloodstock consultant Robert Dawe.
Dawe paid $65,000 for the colt by Swiss Ace out of Princess Carolina on behalf of clients of Richard Collett’s Pukekohe stable.
Now a gelding, the 3-year-old is proving a wise investment and his Listed black-type win in Saturday’s $50,000 race was his third success on the trot and promised plenty more to come.
The speed was on in the 1500m contest and that played right into the winner’s hands.
Ridden by the trainer’s daughter, Alysha, he settled back off a solid pace set by McKee and Chippendale stablemates O’Guy and Showpin, he was revved up early to ensure the pacemakers didn’t steal a break.
Racing a little ungenerously when hanging out slightly, he still made good ground and once balanced gobbled the opposition up for an easy win.
Held in high regard by his trainer, he has confirmed the opinion and will get better with more experience.
‘‘He does all the talking this horse - he’s a good horse,’’ Collett said. ‘‘What he did against the older horses here on Melbourne Cup day suggested he was getting better.’’
Collett may look at a return to Ellerslie in a couple of week’s for another Listed race and a suitable step up to 2100m.
‘‘Every start he’s improving,’’ Alysha Collett said. ‘‘The more ground he gets over the better TRISH DUNELL. he’ll be.’’
Rising Shot has got the right name for the Rising Stars Championship Final at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.
The Harvey-owned Red Giant mare impressively accounted for a Rating 75 qualifier at the course on Saturday to set her on her way to the final.
If the mare’s Te Rapa trainer David Greene has his way she will have a run beforehand.
‘‘If I get a couple of drinks down Russell Warwick [Harvey’s racing manager] tonight, he might let me run in the CAL Isuzu Stakes in the meantime,’’ he said.
The Group II race over 1600m on December 10 would lead into the $80,000 final over 1500m.
Earlier in the day Opie Bosson announced his return to New Zealand with a polished display aboard the progressive stayer Street Smart to claim the thick end of the stake in the Dunstan Feeds Stayers’ Championship Qualifier.
Bosson recently cut short his contract with the Hong Kong Jockey Club by mutual consent and Street Smart’s trainer Shaune Ritchie was certainly glad to see him back.
‘‘He’s one of the best and it’s great to see him straight back into it,’’ the Cambridge horseman told NZ Racing Desk.
Street Smart, who was tripped up by a wet track at Avondale at his previous appearance, has won three of his 13 starts and Ritchie is keen to pursue a path to the Group I Auckland Cup with the son of Shocking.
The favourite Symphonic continued her consistent run of form with her second placing ahead of Pure Lorde, who took third from Ulysses.