Lhasa proved he is more than a synthetic track specialist when he nearly caused an upset when finishing runner-up in Saturday’s Gr.2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) at Te Rapa.
The Hellbent gelding has recorded six of his seven career victories on the polytrack, and it was his sole victory on the grass at Trentham back in March that enticed owner-trainer Mark Treweek to try his charge on the turf once more.
He selected the Foxbridge Plate as his target, and Lhasa went into the race in good form, having won two of his previous four races, and finished runner-up last-start in the $100,000 Polytrack Championship (1400m) at Awapuni.
Te Rapa’s Heavy8 track rating was Treweek’s main concern heading into the race, however, his gelding skipped along the surface outside pacemaker Sacred Satono for much of the journey. He headed his more fancied rival with 250m to go, but was run down late by Sterling Express.
Lhasa’s run gave Treweek his biggest thrill in a training capacity, and he was proud of his charge’s tenacity in the closing stages.
“It was super,” Treweek said. “We were up off our seats, it was like winning for us. The other horse was just too smart, he is a very high-quality horse.
“We were really rapt with him, he has really matured into a horse now. He tries very hard. We were rapt that he could line-up in that company.”
While Lhasa has thrived on synthetic tracks, Treweek said he always knew his gelding could replicate those feats on a grass surface.
“As a three-year-old we ran him on the grass quite a bit, but he was quite weak at that stage, he couldn’t finish his races off,” Treweek said. “He has always gone well on the synthetic, he likes that good, even surface.
“He has shown us that he could gallop on the turf, he won the open sprint at Wellington.”
Treweek said Lhasa has come through the race well, and with Saturday’s result, he is now setting his sights a little higher over spring.
“With the rating he has got (94) and running second in that race on the weekend, it shows that he probably is up to it if you can find the right races for him,” Treweek said.
“He is thriving on his racing at the moment. We try not to over-race him, usually a three-week gap is ideal for him.
“We are not too sure where to go from here. We are looking to see what is available and stay away from a couple of the Group Ones and just try to pick out a nice race or two for him over the spring.”
Lhasa’s result on the weekend may have been the highlight of Mark Treweek’s training career to date, but now the Cambridge horseman feels like he has some unfinished business in that role.
“The Group Two is the best that we have had training ourselves, we never train many, just the odd one of our own that weren’t really good enough to leave in stables,” he said.
“We have been lucky enough to have bought and sold Group One winners and been owners of Group One winners, it would have been great to have trained a Group winner ourselves, so there’s a bit of a target now. Hopefully Lhasa might be able to do it for us.”
Lhasa’s victory capped a perfect end to Treweek’s week, with his only other stable runner, Seamsew, having won at Cambridge a few days prior.
“Seamsew has come through it really well too. He’s in a good space at the moment,” Treweek said.
“1000m is his trip because he has always had average knees, so we can’t overwork him.
“He will probably go back to Cambridge again, because basically that’s all there is for him, and he will just keep ticking over as well.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
