Written by Trent Masenhelder
Cover image courtesy of Race Images
Continuing our look back at the elite-level races held throughout Australasia in 2022/23, this week we focus on the four open-age sprints conducted in New Zealand - the Telegraph H. (1200 metres), the Railway S. (1200 metres), the BCD Group Sprint (1400 metres) and the Tarzino Trophy (1400 metres).
Impressive Imperatriz
Te Akau Racing’s brilliant mare Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) had a phenomenal season, adding three Group 1 triumphs (two on home soil, one in Australia) to make it five overall.
The Mark Walker-trained Imperatriz chalked up her third victory in top company when Opie Bosson guided her to a narrow win in the G1 Railway S. at Te Rapa in January. Imperatriz beat the Ben Foote-trained Babylon Berlin (All Too Hard) by a head, with the race favourite, Ken and Bev Kelso’s Levante (NZ) (Proisir), back in third.
Imperatriz improved her record to 10 wins from 15 starts and made it a hat-trick of Railway successes for Te Akau, following wins by Avantage (Fastnet Rock) in 2021 and Entriviere (NZ) (Tavistock {NZ}) in 2022.
Three weeks after her heroics at Te Rapa, Imperatriz added the G2 Westbury Classic at Pukekohe to her CV, before returning to Te Rapa for the G1 BCD Sprint, where she would again meet Babylon Berlin, Levante and Dragon Leap (Pierro), as well as Maven Belle (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}) and La Crique (NZ) (Vadamos {Fr}).
Bosson was again in the saddle and he would have been most comfortable with the situation 600 metres from home, with Imperatriz in a beautiful position and seemingly with plenty to give. The mare let down and dashed clear to win with ridiculous ease, stopping the clock at 1:20.70 - the quickest time since Mrs Selleck (NZ) (Famous Star {GB}) won the race in 1992.
Mark Walker with Imperatriz | Image courtesy of Trish Dunell
Bred by Raffles Dancers, Imperatriz is out of winning Shamardal (USA) mare Berimbau and she herself is a half-sister to the Listed winner Vinco (I Am Invincible).
Imperatriz was purchased by David Ellis for $360,000 from the Bhima Thoroughbreds draft at the 2020 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale
Proisir on the double
As has been the case with the first two chapters in this series (Australasian Group 1s for 2-year-old and 3-year-old fillies), Proisir features prominently here, with Rich Hill Stud’s star stallion the sire of two Group 1 open age sprint winners in New Zealand this season.
Proisir | Standing at Rich Hill Stud
Hastings’ Tarzino Trophy meeting in September was met with a Heavy 10, but that didn’t bother the Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott-trained Dark Destroyer (NZ) (Proisir), who ploughed through the mud to land his maiden Group 1 success.
Billed as a race in two between La Crique and Imperatriz, the 4-year-old gelding, who had campaigned successfully in Brisbane during the winter, upset the apple cart, rattling home in the hands of Lisa Allpress to score by 1l.
Offered by Highline Thoroughbreds at the 2020 New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka Yearling Sale (Book 2), Dark Destroyer was passed in when failing to meet his reserve of NZ$30,000.
Dark Destroyer’s dam is the unplaced All American mare All Can Party and he is related to the Group 1 winners Dracula and Wandjina.
At Trentham in January, Levante made it back-to-back wins in the G1 Telegraph H. after an epic battle with Babylon Berlin. The classy pair went head-to-head over the concluding stages, before Levante gained the upper hand in the last few strides to take the victory by a neck.
The victory was her third in the highest grade and 11th overall.
Levante (NZ) | Image courtesy of Race Images
Bred by Scott Williams, Levante is from Island Doy (GB) (Doyoun {Ire}) - a two-time winner in Ireland and a half-sister to the Group 3 winner Cryptavia (NZ) (Gold Brose). Levante is closely related to Maven Belle - New Zealand’s Champion 2YO in 2021/22.
