3 minute read
Costa taking giant strides to Rough Habit; Teetan bags a birthday brace; Top longshot; Pinhooking Gold Available in National Weanling Sale
Costa taking giant strides to Rough Habit
Trainer Michael Costa is sure Supergiant can underline his staying potential with another important Queensland winter carnival win.
Supergiant has been in great form with a second in the Listed Daybreak Lover Stakes (1650m) and a win in the Gr.3 Gunsynd Classic (1800m) at his past two starts.
And Costa is supremely confident Supergiant will be at his best distance range when he tackles the Gr.3 Rough Habit Plate (2200m) at Eagle Farm on Saturday.
"Before the coronavirus restrictions I was saying he was our Queensland Derby (Gr.1, 2400m) horse," Costa said.
"I think he has improved even further since his Gunsynd win. He is a horse which needs racing to get to his best.
"He will give them something to beat on Saturday ... but I am really looking forward to next season with him."
Costa bought Supergiant after watching him in a video trial he was sent from New Zealand.
He liked the way Supergiant moved which backed up the gelding's strong staying bloodlines.
Supergiant was raised at Mapperley Stud, and his dam My Marguerite is closely related to the 2007 Gr.1 Victoria Derby (2500m) winner Kibbutz.
Supergiant is the 11th stakes winner for his sire Red Giant who once held the world record on turf for 2000m.
A son of top sire Giant's Causeway, Red Giant shuttled from Hill 'n' Dale Farm and Three Chimneys in Kentucky to Westbury Stud before he was sold to Turkey in 2016.
In-form Allan Chau will again ride Supergiant on Saturday.
Teetan bags a birthday brace
Reliable Team's brave win in the Class 2 Cochrane Handicap (1800m) ensured Karis Teetan enjoyed a memorable 30th birthday at Happy Valley on Wednesday.
The Frankie Lor-trained grey capped a celebratory double for the 'Mauritian Magician' following Murray's Partners' success in race three.
"It's nice to get a winner on a special day and I hope the luck can keep going," Teetan said after marching to 76 wins for the term, eight short of last season's personal best.
Headgear was the running theme. While Murray's Partners found marked improvement in a first-time visor, Reliable Team lifted in newly-fitted blinkers.
"The blinkers helped a lot," Teetan said. "I trialled Reliable Team a few weeks ago with them on and he trialled nicely. He still looks around a bit and does funny things, so I don't think he'd have won without them tonight.
"I was worried that he was doing a bit too much but once I got him some cover he slept straight away; when I pulled him out he wanted to go next to that horse and he kept fighting him."
Reliable Team took his record to five wins from 13 starts. The four-year-old finished a creditable fifth to Golden Sixty in the Hong Kong Derby (2000m) two runs back and stepped out this evening off a seven-week break.
Like the Derby winner, Reliable Team is a NZB Ready to Run Sale graduate, purchased for $430,000 by Upper Bloodstock from the draft of Phoenix Park.
The Reliable Man gelding found himself up against Derby sixth Butterfield in the run to the line and confirmed that classic form by a hard-fought short-head.
"He's definitely improved and he's going the right way," Teetan said. "He needed the freshen-up and after the summer break you'd think he'll come back a better horse."
Teetan's success on Murray's Partners, a son of Towkay, in section one of the Class 4 Wyndham Handicap (1650m) continued the late-season upsurge of Dennis Yip whose stable had seven wins in May; the four-year-old broke his maiden at the 13th attempt, having dropped to a mark of 40 from a debut rating of 52.
"I picked up the ride on entry day, so I really appreciate Dennis Yip's support – the horse was very well," Teetan said.
Top longshot
Top Military delivered a bazooka of a shock in section two of the Class 4 Staunton Handicap (1200m) at Happy Valley on Wednesday to help jockey Ben So to his first double since November 2016.
The six-year-old New Zealand-bred gelding became the longest-priced winner at Happy Valley since Hong Kong racing turned professional in 1971, rattling home at odds of 283/1 under So to pip the 1.6 favourite Sky Show.
"Unbelievable," So said after weighing in. "If you see the record of the horse, you couldn't expect he'd run that well."
Top Military, a son of Westbury Stud stallion (Swiss Ace) won a couple of races on wet tracks in New Zealand back in 2017 but had gone eight races without success in his injury-hit Hong Kong career, including when last of 12 over 1650m a month ago. The Benno Yung-trained gelding had previously raced around at odds of 434/1 and 374/1.
"I think the first-time blinkers must have changed the horse," said So, who will retire at this season's end. "He was flying home. I'm very happy anyway."
Pinhooking Gold Available in National Weanling Sale
Astute pinhookers will again have the chance to secure future Yearling Sale or Ready To Run prospects in the 2020 edition of the New Zealand Bloodstock Weanling Sale to be run from June 11 to 21.
Over the last few editions of the Karaka May Sale and its predecessor the National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale, there is a long list of pinhook purchases who fetched significantly higher prices when returning to the auction ring the following year.
Multiple Group One winners Gingernuts and Yourdeel are two prominent members of that group.
All weanlings offered at the National Weanling Sale will be eligible for the lucrative Karaka Million Series featuring two $1 million races available for graduates as two and three-year-olds, plus the $100,000 CollinsonForex Karaka Cup for the duration of their career.
To nominate your weanlings, please visit NZB's online portal at portal.nzb.co.nz.
Entries for the National Weanling Sale in conjunction with Gavelhouse Plus remain open to all vendors until 5pm, Wednesday 10 June.