Title Battle
And the title for the best two-year-old in the land goes to – drum roll…La Dorada (Super Seth), but by how much? It’s a discussion we can only surmise because she and Return To Conquer (Snitzel) – the only juveniles in contention for the crown – never met during the season.
Even if the Sistema Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m)-winning son of Snitzel (Redoute’s Choice) had shown up last Saturday at Trentham for the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr 1, 1400m), it’s a fair guess that he would have had his work cut out, as La Dorada was in another realm.
A spike in temperature on the morning of the Sistema Stakes resulted in La Dorada’s withdrawal and means we will never know the outcome, but we can try.
Return To Conquer was victorious that day and, although a win is a win, he was nowhere near as dominant as the filly was in the Sires’ Produce.
The closest the pair came to meeting was at Matamata when the colt ran 1200 metres in 1:10.84 when taking out the Matamata Slipper (Gr 3, 1200m), while La Dorada’s time in a dawdling Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) over the same trip was 1:11.68.
Extrapolating his 1:10.84 from 1200 metres to 1400 metres equates to 1:22.64 – which is the exact same time the filly recorded last weekend. How interesting is that?
Return To Conquer’s winning time in the Sistema was 1:11.44, however Ellerslie’s March 8 track was rated a Soft 5, so time is a factor we cannot use in this instance.
However, we can look at Return To Conquer’s opponents, and second to him that day was Landlock (Merchant Navy), with the margin just a head. In Saturday’s Sire’s Produce, Landlock was a distant five lengths back in La Dorada’s rear-view mirror.
At season’s end, the panel deciding the Champion New Zealand Two-Year-Old will have their work cut out. Does Return To Conquer’s unbeaten record trump a stomping win by La Dorada (once defeated in five starts) over what was probably a stronger field? If the title could not be decided on the track, we will simply have to rely on sometimes flawed human judgement and opinion.
A $190,000 purchase by David Ellis out of the 2024 NZB Karaka Yearling Sale, La Dorada has returned five-fold her outlay by taking her bank beyond the $1 million mark.
Good luck trying to buy yearlings by Super Seth (Dundeel) for less than that figure at the 2026 sale, as La Dorada is the third millionaire for the son of Dundeel (High Chaparral), who has been a bit of a revelation late this season.
From his first crop, which are just three-year-olds, Feroce landed the Australian Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) on March 1 and Linebacker saluted in the Randwick Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) a week later. La Dorada brings Super Seth’s Group 1 winners to three – it would have been a little weird had he not ended the New Zealand Group 1 season with a local win at the elite-level.
The stallion has definitely arrived but the one minor concern is his winners to runners ratio, which currently stands at 44 per cent (31 from 69 runners). This is slightly offset by his stakes winners/runners ratio: a healthy 8.57 per cent. Earlier on Saturday’s Trentham card, Listed winner Super Photon took out The Oaks Stud 3YO (1200m) and made it a daily double for the Waikato Stud-based stallion.
In addition to being Super Seth’s third Group 1 winner, La Dorada became the third Group 1 winner within two generations of her family.
The 2022 Caulfield Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) winner, Golden Mile (Astern), is from Calaverite (Lonhro), a Listed-winning half-sister to La Dorda’s Group 2-winning dam Gold Fever (Savabeel).
Gold Fever is also a three-quarter sister to the 2023 Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Major Beel (Savabeel), from the unraced Gram (O’Reilly).
La Dorada’s syndicate members now own a Group 1 winner and when the filly retires her value as a broodmare could be even more millions. Before that, she has a race career to savour and who knows what she might achieve as a three-year-old.
A line or two about the placed runners in the Sires’ Produce is appropriate, with Hostility (I Am Invincible) running a slashing second behind his Te Akau stablemate and notably, it was just the second start for the $1.65 million NZB Ready To Run Sale graduate.
Two trials wins preceded his debut at Matamata on March 15, where he ran second (beaten a head). That form held up too as the winner, Tejana (Darci Brahma), was fourth across the line in the Sires’ and then promoted to third due to interference about 200 metres out before a strong finish. Watch out for both next season.
No real surprise
As described in this column after his first-rate Japan Trophy (Gr 2, 1600m) win during the middle of last month, Waitak (Proisir) was set for the New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) a little more than two years ago.
A Queensland winter campaign that season was quite disappointing but his trainers had a major rethink regarding his four-year-old career, which brought a brilliant Railway Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) victory on January 1, 2024.
His sharp turn of foot was again evident at Tauranga for the Japan Trophy, and for Saturday’s time-honoured Awapuni Gold Cup (Gr 2, 2100m), connections should have been somewhat confident.
At three, Waitak recorded a second placing in the Avondale Guineas (Gr 2, 2100m), the distance of the Gold Cup, which, when run at Awapuni is 2000 metres. The added 100 metres was simply due to the design of Trentham, where the 2000-metre pole is practically in line with the winning post, thus the start of the first sharp bend.
Rider Ryan Elliot did well to find cover for Waitak, who was three wide with a lap to run but found a mid-field slot two lanes out soon after. The extra distance meant less urgency from the gate and Waitak was handier than usual, although from the 1400 metres the field was strung out over quite a lot of ground.
Into the home straight he loomed widest then, as expected, he kicked and inside the 200-metre pole was clearly the one they all had to beat. From the 100-metre pole he was clear and at the line was actually increasing his lead to two and a quarter lengths, taking his record to six wins (four stakes) and earnings of $975,000.
Faster
The three-year-old late maturing stayers were presented a black-type opportunity with the staging of the Manawatu Classic (Gr 3, 2100m) last Friday, one of four stakes offered at the Manawatu Racing Club’s Trentham meeting. It went the way of the favourite Kiwi Skyhawk (Contributer), his maiden stakes success and second career win in ten starts.
In a race that was run a shade faster than the open class horses in the Awapuni Gold Cup (Gr 2, 2100m), Kiwi Skyhawk had plenty to do with 600 metres to run as he sat last.
Rounding into the straight he was widest but caught the leaders inside the 200 metres, and soon took over to win by a length on the line.
The gelding started favourite despite having won just once very early in the season. In the meantime, he finished a fair fourth in the New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m), before being spelled and returning to run fifths in both the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (Listed, 1600m) and most recently the New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m).
Kiwi Skyhawk is the 11th individual stakes winner for Contributer (High Chaparral), who was sadly lost to the industry at the beginning of this season.
He is the third stakes winner for his dam Pouter (Dubawi), a Sydney winner who ranks as a half-sister to Port Adelaide Guineas (Listed, 1600m) winner and Spring Champion Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m)-third Excelltastic (Exceed And Excel).
Her first two were Tasmanian Listed winner Rock Dove (Epaulette) and Inglis 3YO Guineas (Listed, 1400m) winner Midland (Brazen Beau), who has since been exported to Hong Kong, racing as King Land.
Kiwi Skyhawk was offered by Cambridge Stud at the 2023 NZB Karaka Yearling sale (Book 1) and fetched $240,000 purchased by his trainer Stephen Marsh in conjunction with Dylan Johnson Bloodstock.
Dr Derryn
Grangewilliam’s Stud’s Derryn (Hinchinbrook) added his fifth individual stakes winner on Saturday when Doctor Askar prevailed in the Flying Handicap (Listed, 1400m) at Trentham, his fifth career win in 14 starts but significantly, his fifth win in his last six starts.
The four-year-old took some time to strike form and only broke his maiden late last November at his ninth start, after recording four seconds and a third prior to the breakthrough.
His last four wins have been in succession and three have taken place at Trentham, stepping up from Benchmark 75 to open class and backing up seven days after his March 22 success.
The Joanne Moss-trained gelding sped forward under Joe Doyle to sit just back and outside the lead before they reached the end of the back straight and was still second when they straightened for the run home. He didn’t reach the lead until the 150-metre mark, but once he did defied anyone to run him down and crossed the line 0.2 lengths in front.
Doctor Askar is the first stakes winner in the first four generations of his line. His fourth dam, Clipper (Sea Anchor), is a half-sister to the top racemare River Queen (Serenader II). She won ten times including Ellerslie’s George Adams (Tatt’s) Handicap (Gr 2, 1600m). Doctor Askar’s great grandam, Jambiere (Balmerino) and Listed winner Te Akau Prince (Balmerino), a son of River Queen, are three-quarter relations.