Habibi flops in US debut

Taranaki part-owned and bred mare Habibi failed to flatter in the Gr II Royal Heroine Stakes at Santa Anita in North America on Sunday (NZ time).

Making her first start in more than 14 months, Habibi was trapped wide throughout and ended up eighth of the 10 runners in the 1600m race.

Habibi was settled back early by rider Brice Blanc, before being taken very wide at the top of the short Santa Anita turf stretch to make her bid in a race dominated by on-pace runners.

Awapuni trainer Mike Breslin is confident there is further improvement to come in Australia from Ringo.

He was more than satisfied with the four-year-old’s effort to finish runner-up at Flemington on Saturday in an $A80,000 heat of the Winter Championship series and is now looking forward to the $A150,000 final.

“I was pretty happy with him and it’s really good to know we can come over here and compete at this level,” Breslin said.

“All going well, he’ll run in the final at Flemington on July 12. We thought we’d come here and give him a taste and get a bit of a yard-stick on him.

Breslin said Ringo had come through the race well and concurred with rider Dwayne Dunn’s post-race comments that there was more to come from the Fastnet Rock gelding.

Making turf history is nothing new for colourful trainer Graeme Rogerson.

He remains the only New Zealand trainer to have won the Golden Slipper and Magic Millions 2yo Classic, having produced Polar Success to win the Slipper in 2003 and Bradbury’s Luck to claim Queensland’s biggest prize in racing two years later.

Both wins were when Rogerson operated stables out of Randwick in Sydney, but with him closing that base last year to concentrate on his New Zealand stable, the 12-time domestic premiership winner has set his sights on a new goal of winning Australia’s two biggest juvenile races with New Zealand-trained gallopers.

‘‘Hopefully I can go back to Australia and win their two biggest two-year-old races from New Zealand,’’ Rogerson said.

‘‘We’ve won plenty of two-year-old races and plenty of group one races in Australia but it would be special to win a Golden Slipper and a Magic Millions from New Zealand.’’

To aid that goal, Rogerson and his wife Debbie will next season prepare their biggest team of two-year-olds in years.

The training partners bought 42 yearlings between Karaka and the Gold Coast this year, while youngsters they have bred themselves and others they will train for breeders, most notably Baramul Stud and Westbury Stud’s Gerry Harvey, make for a formidable crop of early-season runners.

‘‘We’re training the biggest team we’ve had in years. We’re getting behind New Zealand racing and Gerry Harvey has backed us too. We’ll have a great bunch of two-year-olds,’’ Rogerson said. NZ Racing Desk