A relentlessly wet spring has provided a frustrating start to the season for David Greene, but things might be turning the corner as the Te Rapa trainer prepares to unleash his emerging star First Five in Saturday’s Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint (1200m) at Pukekohe.
Greene opened his winning account for 2025-26 when Goldiluxe took out the Avondale Main Street Rating 60 (1200m) on Thursday, and now he is excited to see First Five get underway in what could be a career-best season.
“Goldiluxe won pretty well at Avondale on Thursday and it was good to see,” Greene said. “It was probably a bit of an overdue win, she’d been racing well and deserved to pick another one up.
“Now I’m looking forward to seeing First Five kick off on Saturday. The one issue we’ve had with him is that he’s a genuine good-track horse, so like many others in the racing industry, we’ve been pretty frustrated to see it raining almost every day for however many months. Now that the weather and tracks seem to be starting to come right, First Five is going to be much more at home.”
First Five will be the only runner this weekend for Greene, who has long held a good opinion of the lightly raced gelding.
The son of Almanzor has recorded five wins from a 15-start career to date, including four victories from just 10 starts last season – a 1600m Rating 75 at Ruakaka on September 7, a 1400m Rating 65 at Matamata on December 20, a 1400m Rating 75 at Tauranga on February 7, and a 1400m Rating 75 at Te Aroha on March 29.
First Five then stepped up into open company for his final start of the season and finished second over 1400m at Te Rapa on April 26, beaten by a short head by Super Photon with a similar margin back to the third-placed Stonybreck.
“He certainly has the look of a black-type horse in the making, and I’ve thought that for a while,” Greene said. “He had a very good second half of the season last time in and made it through to open class, and he’s really fully matured into himself now. I think he’s in for a big season.
“This was the race we were keen to have him resume in, and his build-up has gone well leading into Saturday. His work has been very good and I think he’s right where we want him to be.”
Despite four of his wins coming over 1400m and the other one at 1600m, Greene believes First Five has the brilliance to be highly competitive over 1200m in a fresh state on Saturday. The five-year-old will be ridden by Lynsey Satherley in Saturday’s first-up assignment, in which the TAB has him on the third line of betting at $7.50. He shares that quote with Force Of Nature, while the two market leaders are I’munstoppable ($3) and I’m All In ($6).
“I think he’s definitely sharp enough to be very effective over the 1200m,” Greene said. “We’ll get this race out of the way before deciding what else to target with him and what distance might suit him best, but my feeling is that up around 1400m might be his main go.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
