The group 1 spoils from one of the nation’s premier sprints, The Telegraph, are again heading south.
The Michael and Matthew Pitman-trained Enzo’s Lad backed up Signify’s effort in the race last year to again provide a South Island-trained victory. If Signify’s win was an upset at odds of 45-1, then Enzo’s Lad’s win at 73-1 could be described as a total boilover.
The victory provided two young horsemen with their first group 1 victory.
For Matthew Pitman, in just his fourth season of training in partnership with father Michael, the winning thrill was the ultimate feeling.
"There’s just no better feeling than this," he said.
"He’s got a great bunch of owners, all from Wellington, and it was their choice as much as ours to bring him up. This means the world to me."
Enzo’s Lad went to Trentham after failing in the Hazlett Stakes at Wingatui on Boxing day. The Pitman stable simply turned the page on that run after the Wingatui track was affected by rain, and pressed on to the Telegraph.
"He struck a wet track and he can’t go on them."
Enzo’s Lad received an economical run near the pace by rider Sam Weatherley, who also bagged his first group 1 win.
"Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to be a jockey and to win a group 1 is great," he said.
Weatherly was not concerned by Enzo’s Lad’s last-start failure.
"I was very happy to be on him," he said.
"He won the Pegasus in style and I knew if we had some luck he could do it. We got all the splits when we needed to, so I’m over the moon."
Though defeated, Kawi lost no admirers with a gutsy performance to finish second, hitting the line better than any other horse in the race. A gun ride from Sam Spratt helped Stolen Dance win the group 1 Thorndon Mile. The Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained mare drifted back to last early in the race before Spratt shot her around the field passing the 1000m.
That decision paid off as Stolen Dance fought resolutely to take the 1600m feature.
"We were three wide and got pushed out four and five wide, so it was a gutsy effort," Spratt said.
Saturday’s race is likely to be Stolen Dance’s last race start, as the mare is in foal to Tavistock.
— Jonny Turner, additional reporting NZ Racing Desk
