Curraghmore graduates produced some strong performances over the weekend, indicating there should be bigger things in store for those horses continuing on to bigger targets over the coming months.
Weaponry’s win in the Listed Southland Guineas (1600m) was a credit to Te Akau Racing’s Jamie Richards having sent the three-year-old gelding south following wins in his first two career starts.
The $140,000 New Zealand Bloodstock graduate looks to be a progressive horse learning his craft and the style of his win on Saturday was an indication of his class.
Another running in the Te Akau colours was In A Twinkling who looks a live chance in the Gr.1 Vodafone NZ Derby (2400m) after a solid performance to finish runner-up in the Gr.2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) at Ellerslie.
In A Twinkling, like Weaponry, was selected by David Ellis out of Curraghmore's 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock draft.
There were several runners in Australia of note. Age of Chivalry backed up 10 days after his midweek win to run second in the Gr.3 CS Hayes Stakes (1400m) proving he is not only up to weekend class but Group level.
The Mathew Ellerton and Simon Zahra-trained three-year-old looks to be a very exciting prospect going forward with improvement to come considering he finished as well as he did despite racing slightly erratically when being asked to quicken on the straight.
Theanswermyfriend was as game as ever carrying 60kg to finish second in the final race on the card at Flemington. Mighty Boss was also in the 1400m contest and had a nice reintroduction to raceday following a spell and ran on well in the finishing stages and looked to have his mind on the task.
In Sydney Unforgotten would have gotten a pass mark from trainer Chris Waller following her fourth placing in the Gr.2 Apollo Stakes (1400m) to superstar stablemate Winx. She was another returning to raceday after a spell and looks to be on target for her Group level tasks coming up over the next few months.
Fingers crossed all these horses continue to improve from these runs. There are some big racedays in store for them over the coming weeks including Australian Guineas day on March 2 where Karaka Million 3YO Classic winner Long Leaf will aim to add another feature win to his portfolio.
