It has been a lucrative couple of weeks for the connections of Kereti, which was capped by another big cheque at Awapuni on Thursday following his win in the $75,000 Power Farming Manawatu Polytrack Championship (1400m).
The win came less than a fortnight after his victory in the $60,000 Awapuni Synthetic Final (1400m) at the Palmerston North track, and he put in a carbon copy performance in his latest win.
From his outside barrier in the 10-horse field, the son of Darci Brahma was stoked up early by apprentice jockey Amber Riddell, and they made a beeline for the lead, where they set a solid tempo. They had their rivals off the bit a long way from home and continued to build their advantage, eventually running out 1-1/2 length victors over a game Meglio Di Falcrest.
“With that weight (60kg) and a few extra quality horses, that was probably his most impressive of his three wins on the poly,” Breslin said.
“He had been working the house down at home and you always worry about that sort of weight, but Amber had been doing a really good job on him, so we didn’t want to change anything.
“Amber came out and said she thought the outside gate would help him and that was proven right.”
Breslin was rapt to get the result for owner-breeder William Duncan, who has been a longtime supporter of his stable.
“Willy has raced a few horses with me over a number of years and her mother, Heni, was one of the best horses I have ever trained,” Breslin said. “She didn’t start hitting her straps until she was five, six, seven-years-old, and it looks like this horse is going to be the same.”
Breslin said the five-year-old gelding will now head for a freshen-up before being set for a return to grass racing.
“He will go out to his owner’s farm, have two or three weeks off, and then we will get him back,” Breslin said. “The underlying thing is he is going to come back an open class horse, and he has only won in rating 65 on the grass, so he is going to have to come back and adjust to that. The positive side is that he will drop in weight.
“I think he will run on the grass fine now, I think what we are seeing now is the result of maturity as much as anything else.”
Breslin also enjoyed two placings on the undercard courtesy of Showbastian Coe in the Creative Catering Sprint (1000m) and East End Lad in the Higgins Concrete (1400m).
“Showbastian Coe is a good poly horse, he is an honest old boy,” Breslin said. “Because he is so consistent you can’t get any weight off him, so he just goes out week in and week out giving four or five kilos to the rest of his opposition and is finding just one better than him at the moment.
“He is a happy horse and a good horse to have around the stable, everyone loves him. While he is enjoying racing, he will keep pottering around.
“I don’t think East End Lad’s mind has quite fallen into place yet, the penny quite hasn’t dropped. I would like to give him a little let up. He has got more talent than his form shows, so with a bit of time he will just mature a bit mentally and come into his own.”
Meanwhile, Breslin will have just the one runner this weekend – Donnybrook in the Grangewilliam Stud (2000m) at New Plymouth on Saturday.
“He is coming off a bit of a freshen-up,” Breslin said. “He has been a bit lethargic out of the gates early in his races but has been finishing them off all right.
“I elected to really freshen him up and I don’t think he has had a race for five weeks, and he is up on his toes coming off the track at the moment. I think having Lisa Allpress on will be key, she has got a good record on him.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
