The opening heat of the morning was taken out by the Shaun Phelan-trained gelding Take The Crown (NZ), who came from well off the pace to record an eye-catching head success over the Te Akau-raced juvenile Dream Of The Moon (All Too Hard).
Take The Crown is a son of one-time Valachi Downs shuttler Ten Sovereigns (Ire), whose first crop of juveniles have made an encouraging start in the Northern Hemisphere this year.
The Coolmore Ireland-based stallion already has eight winners and three stakes performers to his name, and he currently sits atop the First Season Sire Premiership standings on the Emerald Isle.
Take The Crown (NZ) as a yearling | Image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
Take The Crown was a NZ$31,000 yearling purchase for Take The Crown Syndications at the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock (NZB) Karaka Yearling Sale (Book 2) offered by Lenach Lodge.
The newly formed training partnership of Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson unsurprisingly had a strong hand throughout the morning, and the pair saddled up the quinella in Heat 3, with The Victress (Zousain) holding on from his Te Akau-raced stablemate Brazen Affair (NZ) (Brazen Beau) by 0.75l.
Having shown smart early gate speed, The Victress controlled the 650-metre trial from the outset, while her stablemate Brazen Affair also caught the eye under Sam Weatherley after blowing the start and making up stacks of ground on her rivals.
Described by co-trainer Mark Walker as “a horse we think quite a bit of”, The Victress is a daughter of Widden Stud stallion Zousain, whose eldest crop have just turned two, out of the Listed-winning Exceed And Excel mare Liesele, who is a half-sister to R. Listed Inglis Scone Guineas winner Loved Up (Nicconi).
Bred by Bhima Thoroughbreds, The Victress was pinhooked for $130,000 at last year’s Inglis Australian Weanling Sale before being snapped up by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $250,000 at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale in January.
The Victress as a yearling | Image courtesy of Magic Millions
“We were actually underbidders on her with Redwall Bloodstock as a weanling,” revealed Matt Comerford, who handles nominations, sales and client relations at Widden Stud.
“We went out and tried to find the nicest of the Zousain weanlings to support him and we were outbid by the powerhouse of Tom Magnier, who isn’t a bad person to be buying the stock of your stallion!
“It was great to see the next big powerhouse in New Zealand, David Ellis of Te Akau, buy the horse as a yearling on the Gold Coast and to see it win one of the first 2-year-old trials of the season is no surprise to us.
“No different to his father Zoustar, in Zousain’s first crop we focused on getting really good, fast-style mares, and that generates early 2-year-old performers, which is something that we are really conscious of in the marketplace.”
... to see it (The Victress) win one of the first 2-year-old trials of the season is no surprise to us... in Zousain’s first crop we focused on getting really good, fast-style mares, and that generates early 2-year-old performers...” - Matt Comerford
Comerford was delighted with how Zousain’s debut crop of yearlings were received at the sales earlier this year, and off the back of some promising reports from a number of the country’s leading stables, there is every reason to expect that more early 2-year-olds by the multiple Group 1 placegetter will be putting their hands up in the coming weeks and months.
“He’s obviously sold extremely well, the yearling market has really taken a hold of them, and he’s had incredible support in his first three years at stud,” he said.
“We have a very good position in that they’re in a lot of very good stables which we have great relationships with, and that fills us with a lot of confidence.
“A lot of it is obviously filtered through trainers from their breakers, but we are seeing really good, steady and consistent comments on their attitude, their movement and their desire to work.
“The trainers wanted to train them and they’re certainly showing them plenty in the early stages.”
“The trainers wanted to train them (Zousain's progeny) and they’re certainly showing them plenty in the early stages.” - Matt Comerford
With the start of the Southern Hemisphere breeding season just around the corner, Zousain’s book of mares is almost at capacity, and Comerford confirmed that Widden will once again be throwing its own weight behind the son of the farm’s flagship stallion Zoustar.
“There’s a few limited spots available in the horse, and he’s a horse who covers a reasonable number of mares, he’s well supported,” Comerford added of Zousain.
“I think you could ring 10 broodmare farms and they’d all be happy to punt him on the way that they look and the way that they’ve sold, so a trial winner is only going to be the next step to knock over those last few nominations.
Zousain | Standing at Widden Stud
“I’d be getting on the front foot because we are backing the horse again this year and supporting him heavily.”
The perfect start
The fourth and final 2-year-old heat of the morning yielded a similar result to the third, with Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson again training the quinella, only this time it came in the form of a dead heat.
The Te Akau-raced pair of Cognoscenti (Castelvecchio) and Unbridled Joy (Snitzel), who cost NZ$200,000 and $650,000 respectively, could not be separated on the line, but managed to put a 4.75l margin on the Team Rogerson-trained Ka Pai Kiwi (NZ) (Better Than Ready) in third.
Cognoscenti is by another first-season sire in the shape of Arrowfield Stud’s Castelvecchio, whose first crop of yearlings sold for up to $360,000 earlier this year. The winning time of 39.12s was only 0.01s off the fastest of the four juvenile heats, and feedback from a wide cross section of trainers has led Arrowfield’s Bloodstock Manager Jon Freyer to believe that speed will be a common trait among the son of Dundeel’s (NZ) early progeny.
Cognoscenti as a yearling | Image courtesy of New Zealand Bloodstock
“That horse had shown a fair bit in some jump-outs, and they were very confident he would run well,” Freyer said of Cognoscenti.
“He was very professional and went terrific, and I thought he had a lovely action about him. The third horse was a Better Than Ready, and they’re normally fairly precocious as well. I know they’re only short trials, but it gives you some sort of a guide.
“There’s quite a few Castelvecchios that are up and going and look like they’ll certainly be at the early trials. They’re showing plenty of speed in what they’re doing at the present time and he (Cognoscenti) is one of a number on the list that we are following.
“Any number of trainers have reached out of their own volition and said, ‘I’ve got one or two of these Castelvecchios and they are showing us plenty of talent at this early stage - don’t be surprised if they’re in the early races’. It’s encouraging.”
“Any number of trainers have reached out of their own volition and said, ‘I’ve got one or two of these Castelvecchios and they are showing us plenty of talent at this early stage - don’t be surprised if they’re in the early races’. It’s encouraging.” - Jon Freyer
Castelvecchio was of course a Group 1-winning juvenile himself in the G1 Champagne S. over a mile, and with his own sire having enjoyed a landmark year with his 2-year-olds, Freyer feels it should come as no surprise that Castelvecchio has registered a trial winner at the very first attempt.
“He was a (Inglis) Millennium winner, so why wouldn’t he get 2-year-olds?” Freyer said. “Dundeel is going to finish third or fourth in the 2-Year-Old Sires' list this year and he may have the Champion 2-Year-Old in Militarize.
“As with a lot of horses that are at the stage of their stud careers he’s at, people will be sitting back, looking and just waiting for that moment when there’s some life on the horizon, so today’s result will certainly help.
Castelvecchio | Standing at Arrowfield Stud
“He’s going along solidly and horses at that stage are one trial win or one early 2-year-old win away from a massive full book.
“We’ve always had great confidence in the horse and the chat is such that we might be on the right train.”
Just like his Te Akau-trained stablemate The Victress, Cognoscenti has also been through the sales ring twice in his short life to date, having been pinhooked by Landsdowne Park for $145,000 at the Magic Millions National Weanling Sale last year. The colt, whose grandam Samarmeteors (Northern Meteor) is a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Samaready (More Than Ready {USA}) - the dam of G1 Golden Slipper hero Shinzo (Snitzel) - was subsequently sold to David Ellis for NZ$200,000 at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale in January.
Group 1 winners to the fore
After the four juvenile heats got proceedings underway, the remaining trials featured a who’s who of New Zealand’s most talented equine athletes, with Te Akau’s star mare Imperatriz (I Am Invincible) looking particularly impressive on both the eye and the clock.
Heat 5: Pier (NZ) (Proisir x La Vitesse {NZ})
Reigning G1 NZ 2000 Guineas champion Pier (NZ) (Proisir) indicated that he retains all of his ability with an effortless trial victory in Heat 5, clocking a slick time of 56.21s on the Heavy 9 surface.
The Darryn and Briar Weatherley-trained gelding pinged the machines and led from pillar to post over the 900 metres, with jockey Sam Weatherley sat motionless for the majority of the contest.
Pier was last seen finishing down the field in the G2 Hobartville S. at Rosehill Gardens back in February, but he looks to have put that performance well and truly behind him based on his 1.5l victory over last season’s talented juvenile Trobriand (Kermadec {NZ}).
Legarto (NZ) (Proisir), a sensational winner of the G1 Australian Guineas on her final start of the autumn, got motoring late on under Ryan Elliot and crossed the line a further 0.5l adrift in third.
Heat 9: Imperatriz (I Am Invicible x Berimbau)
It was a seamless return to action for Te Akau’s five-time Group 1 winner Imperatriz, who was making her first public appearance since running out a dominant winner of the G1 William Reid S. at Moonee Valley in March.
The daughter of reigning Champion Sire I Am Invincible travelled powerfully throughout the 900 metre trial and motored through the line on the rain affected track to lead home multiple stakes placegetter El Vencedor (NZ) (Shocking) by 1.75l. Good Oil (NZ) (Dalghar {Fr}) was a further 2l back in third.
In posting a time of 55.59s, Imperatriz comfortably clocked the fastest 900 metre trial of the day, doing so without the need for her regular pilot Opie Bosson to ask for much of an effort.
Co-trainer Mark Walker said: “She trialled up really well and is coming to hand nicely. She’ll have one more trial at Taupo before race one on August 23, and then she goes to Moonee Valley on September 9. You’d like to think she’ll be hard to beat there, but it won’t be a field of dummies from what I’ve heard, so she’ll need to be at her best.”
“She (Imperatriz) trialled up really well and is coming to hand nicely. You’d like to think she’ll be hard to beat there (at Moonee Valley), but it won’t be a field of dummies from what I’ve heard, so she’ll need to be at her best.” - Mark Walker
Heat 10: Skew Wiff (NZ) (Savabeel x Starvoia)
Having ended last preparation with a pair of agonising seconds at the highest level, talented mare Skew Wiff’s (NZ) (Savabeel) effort in winning Heat 10 by 2.5l saw her singled out for praise from her co-trainer Mark Walker.
The 4-year-old mare looks to be on the cusp of a breakthrough top-level success judged on the way she eased away from her Group 1-winning stablemate Maven Belle (NZ) (Burgundy {NZ}) to record an impressive 2.5l success, while another top-flight winner in Lickety Split (NZ) (Turn Me Loose {NZ}), who is now back in her native New Zealand following a spell in Australia, came home in fifth.
Skew Wiff (NZ) | Image courtesy of NZ Racing Desk
The only foal to race out of the Listed-winning Starcraft (NZ) mare Starvoia, Skew Wiff was retained to race by her breeders Waikato Stud after she was withdrawn from the NZB Karaka Yearling Sale.
What the trainer said: “I thought Skew Wiff trialled really well. I’ll have a sit down and have a chat to Mark Chittick next week and come up with a plan going forward.
“It was a pass mark for Maven Belle, I thought she might have done a bit more, but it was pretty wet today. I was hoping for a bit better but I’d think she’d benefit from getting back on a firmer deck,” said co-trainer Mark Walker.
Heat 12: Prowess (NZ) (Proisir x Donna Marie {NZ})
One of the stories of the season in New Zealand last season, the hugely talented mare Prowess (NZ) (Proisir) shaped as if she would take plenty of improvement from her 900-metre trial at Te Rapa on Tuesday morning, which was her first major hitout since blitzing her rivals in the G1 Vinery Stud S. at Rosehill Gardens in the autumn.
The daughter of recently crowned New Zealand Champion Sire Proisir, who stands at Rich Hill Stud, was doing her best work late in the piece under Warren Kennedy and put her head in front close to home to beat the Group-placed Redmond (NZ) (Ghibellines) by a long neck.
The Roger James and Robert Wellwood-trained mare is reportedly firmly on track for the G1 Memsie S. at Caulfield on September 2 for her first-up assignment. She is currently the shortest-priced New Zealand-trained horse in the betting for this year’s G1 Cox Plate.
