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New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse Of The Year Awards Finalists; River Radiance ready to step up; Icebath for Glen Boss
New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse Of The Year Awards Finalists
The high quality of New Zealand's three-year-old crop last season is illustrated by the finalists for the Champion Three-Year-Old category at the NZ Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards.
Eight horses, including five fillies, are finalists in the three-year-old division, which will provide the voting panel with plenty to mull over.
Seven of the eight contenders won a Group One race in the 2019-20 season and between them the finalists recorded 29 wins and 29 placings from 67 starts.
The Kiwi three-year-olds made a mark on both sides of the Tasman, with Probabeel and Quick Thinker winning Group One races at the Sydney autumn carnival. Quick Thinker became the fifth New Zealand-trained winner of the Gr.1 Australian Derby (2400m) in the past eight years.
Two Illicit, who never finished further back than third, did not win a Group One race but still presented a compelling case to be a finalist. The filly won two Group Two races, including a runaway victory in the Waikato Guineas (2000m), and finished a brave second in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m).
In a rare situation, Te Akau's Jamie Richards is the sole nomination for Trainer of the Year, after experiencing an extraordinary season, that included 11 Group One wins and more than $7 million in stake earnings.
The Te Akau stable will be represented by five of the 20 individual horses who will be finalists in the flat racing categories. Cool Aza Beel, Probabeel, Avantage, Melody Belle and Te Akau Shark will fly the flag for Te Akau, with Melody Belle and Avantage nominated in two categories.
Two Cambridge stables will each provide three finalists. Tony Pike will be represented by (The) Bostonian, Loire and New Zealand Derby winner Sherwood Forest and the Baker-Forsman partnership by Quick Thinker, True Enough and The Chosen One.
The Horse of the Year Awards dinner will be staged at Claudelands, in Hamilton, on Sunday, October 11.
The finalists for the categories that will be decided by the voting panel are:
Champion Two-year-Old: Cool Aza Beel, Play That Song, Vernazza.
Champion Three-Year-Old: Catalyst, Jennifer Eccles, Loire, Probabeel, Quick Thinker, Sherwood Forest, Two Illicit, Travelling Light.
Champion Sprinter-Miler (up to 1600m): Avantage, Bostonian, Julius, Melody Belle, Te Akau Shark.
Champion Middle Distance (1601m-2200m): Avantage, Melody Belle, True Enough.
Champion Stayer (2201m and further): Platinum Invador, Roger That, The Chosen One.
Champion Jumper: Bad Boy Brown, It's A Wonder, Wise Men Say.
Trainer of the Year: Jamie Richards.
Jockey of the Year: Opie Bosson, Lisa Allpress.
Jumps Jockey of the Year: Shaun Fannin, Aaron Kuru, Shaun Phelan.
Owner of the Year: Joan Egan, Hermitage Thoroughbreds, Kevin Hickman, JML Bloodstock, Dick Karreman, B J & J E Lindsay Partnership, NZ Thoroughbred Holdings, OTI Management Ltd, Trelawney Thoroughbred Ltd, Sir Peter Vela.
River Radiance ready to step up
After River Radiance overcame adversity to run a gallant first-up third in a Class 2 race over 1100m, trainer Mok Zhan Lun decided that the S$250,000 Merlion Trophy (1200m) on Sunday was worth a roll of the dice.
"I was very happy with his last run (on August 8). He got galloped on and still came in third (to Sacred Rebel)," Mok said.
"Without that incident, I'm not saying he would have won, but he could have finished closer. He came back with lacerations to his leg, he's over it now as it was only a skin issue.
"As he runs well on Polytrack, I thought why not give him a go in the Merlion Trophy. It's the only sprint trophy race on Polytrack as well."
Mok has booked Marc Lerner for the ride. The French jockey rode the Rip Van Winkle five-year-old once, for an unplaced run in the Stewards' Cup (1600m) in March.
To Mok, nothing much could be said about the ride. It was the horse who didn't stay.
"I tested him twice over longer trips (1400m and 1600m), but it didn't work out. From now on, I will keep him to sprint races on the Polytrack," he said.
Mok is happy with the Macau-owned River Radiance ahead of the weekend.
"He has definitely improved on his race fitness after that first run," he said.
"He had his last gallop today (Wednesday). He did it effortlessly.
"I was happy with that. The horse is fit and well."
River Radiance was sold out of Seaton Park's 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Select Yearling Sale draft.
Icebath for Glen Boss
The Brad Widdup-trained Icebath will link with rider Glen Boss at Randwick on Saturday in the Cactus Imaging Sprint (1200m) as the New Zealand-bred mare looks to step through the grades ahead of black-type assignments later this spring.
The four-year-old daughter of Sacred Falls was placed in the Listed South Pacific Classic (1400m) and Gr.3 Hawkesbury Guineas (1400m) at the end of her Autumn campaign and finished fourth in her trial behind Le Romain at Gosford at the beginning of the month.
"It was a nice trial and she went and had a gallop up at Newcastle between races last Thursday and she has been ticking over really nicely," Widdup said.
"I think she's a mare that is going to be on an upward spiral this spring."
The Hawkesbury trainer believes the two-win mare will be best suited up to a mile.
"There are some nice races coming up over the next few weeks and we are just trying to get her benchmark up a bit so we can get her into a nice race over the carnival," he said.
"She ran in black-type races as a two-year-old and she ran very well there and she looked like a drowned rat back then. While she is not a big filly, she is solid and she always carries a bit of weight around the belly.
"She is a real competitor and she ran in strong company in her last three runs last preparation."
Icebath is rated a $5.50 chance on Saturday, with the Randwick track currently a Slow7.
