What a week for the farm! The fun started on Waitangi Day when with the friends whom we race the LA bred Kekova (Elusive City-Racing Waters) cheered the bonny 5YO mare to her first stakes success in the Listed Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes over 1600m at Tauherenikau. The win was made more memorable as it saw Lisa Allpress become the first female jockey in New Zealand to ride 1000 winners – a richly deserved milestone for a jockey who is a great advertisement for our industry.
Saturday saw exciting Nadeem 3YO Happy Galaxy (Nadeem-Seven Stars) back-up from a listed win last weekend against his own age in Melbourne to take on the older horses in the Gr.2 Expressway Stakes over 1200m at Warwick Farm in Sydney. The Hawkes trained colt overcame the travelling and better company to record a strong win over Danleigh and Centennial Park.
Happy Galaxy’s emergence as one of the better 3YO sprinters in Australia and recent South African Gr.2 winners Tajmeel and Mujaarib make exciting reading for the many local breeders who supported Nadeem (Redoute’s Choice - Candide) in his inaugural season at LA last year.
Xanadu (Elusive City-Forest Dream) may have met her nemesis in Final Touch, who again beat the younger mare into second, this time in the Gr.1 Waikato Draught Sprint over 1400m at Te Rapa on Saturday, but it’s hardly a blight to have the triple Gr.1 winning southern marvel as your weakness. The distances of the 1500m Gr.1 Coolmore Classic and 1600m Doncaster Handicap in Sydney this autumn look more suitable for the LA bred mare as she chases that elusive Gr.1 victory.
