Three weeks after clearing maiden grade at Geelong, up-and-coming stayer Duke Of Hastings delivered a repeat result at Caulfield on Saturday and headed a New Zealand-bred trifecta in the A$130,000 Neds Fully Loaded Handicap (2000m).
Sent out as an $11 chance for trainer Simon Zahra and jockey Harry Coffey, Duke Of Hastings settled in midfield before changing gears and finishing over the top of Storm King in the straight. The three-year-old scored by a long neck, with the rest of the field another three lengths behind the first pair.
“We just allowed the horse to relax and build into the race under his own steam, and he was too powerful over the 2000 metres,” Coffey said.
“He pulled up immaculate, so Simon (Zahra) has done a great job with him. He'll just continue to get further with more racing. He is a potential stayer that will race over these distances and further in town for a long time.”
Bred by Blandford Lodge’s Graham and Helen-Gaye Bax, Duke Of Hastings is by Sacred Falls out of the Viscount mare Fairygem.
A half-sister to Group One winner Penny Gem, Fairygem herself won five races including the Listed Australia Day Cup (2400m) at Randwick. She is the dam of four winners from six foals to race, including the Listed-placed Dottie Dee.
Duke Of Hastings was a $10,000 purchase by Victoria’s Cranton Bloodstock from Book 1 at Karaka 2020, then was passed in during the Ready to Run Sale later that year.
"There were no bids for him at the Ready to Run Sale," Zahra said. “It was probably just a bit too soon for him. He was a big, lanky thing, and now he’s furnishing into a nice horse.
“We've just been really patient with him and taken our time with him. He's not the finished product yet, he's still a fair way away.
“The wet track might have helped him, but he's got a good turn of foot on dry ground that we've seen at home. We were pretty confident that, no matter what happened with the weather, he'd be competitive.”
The minor placegetters in Saturday’s race were Storm King (by Complacent) and the former Kiwi-based Halston (Reliable Man), who now races under the name King Halston. – NZ Racing Desk
