Promising filly Sweetest Thing displayed all her fighting qualities when she held out a determined challenge from Platinum La Danse and stablemate Sword of Stars to win the Listed NZB Canterbury Belle Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton on Saturday.
The daughter of Cambridge Stud-based shuttle stallion Hello Youmzain was having her first start for trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson after being prepared for her two-year-old campaign by Bergerson’s father, Roydon.
The filly finished her first season of racing as runner-up to the Walker and Bergerson-trained Seize The Day in the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) in April, and after enjoying a decent winter break she resumed on Saturday off the back of two trial runs, including winning over 1000m at Ashburton last month.
Rider Wiremu Pinn went south to specifically ride the filly and after a ding dong battle in the home straight he got the best out of her in the final 50m to win by a short head.
Sam Bergerson was excited by the prospects for the filly, who holds a nomination for both the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November.
“It was a hard watch as she had them coming at her from both sides, but fair play to the filly as she was headed but she kicked back,” Bergerson said.
“She is a big striding filly and we think she will be better on good ground, but it is good to have Dad, who trained her before, as he has given me some good pointers.
“There is plenty of improvement to come as she is still quite an immature filly who needs to fill out, so we will need to nurse her along.”
Purchased by Chris Rutten and Roydon Bergerson for $80,000 out of the Wentwood Grange draft during the Book 1 sale at Karaka in 2025, Sweetest Thing is raced by Australian Bruce Wilson under his Glentree Racing banner.
She is out of the Sea The Stars mare Ocean Drive and is closely related to numerous European stakes winners on her dam’s side.
Earlier on the card, enigmatic stayer Unleash The Beast put himself squarely in the frame for the Gr.3 Martin Collins New Zealand Cup (3200m) in November, while Iron Hawk cemented himself as one of the favourites for the Gr.3 TAB Mile (1600m) with a pair of impressive wins.
Despite missing the start by at least two lengths in the rating 75 2000m contest, the Kenny Moore-trained Unleash The Beast was allowed to stride forward from last after 400m and lead for jockey Mereana Hudson.
Hudson had the five-year-old son of Eminent travelling strongly turning for home but was quickly headed by the North Island visitor Mineshaft before fighting back to regain the lead at the 100m and stave off all challengers by a neat length at the winning post.
“It’s taken a couple of starts to get him up to fitness and he needs that distance,” Moore said. “I didn’t expect him to win with that authority on this track (Heavy 9) as he is a dry tracker, so that surprised me.
“We are on track (for the New Zealand Cup), but it is a little hard to find suitable races for him, so he will likely have a run here in two weeks and then one more before the Cup.”
Trainer Lance Robinosn holds the Barry and Katrina Purdon-owned Iron Hawk in high regard, but even he admitted the win surprised him a little.
“That was above expectations as there is a lot of improvement in this horse yet,” Robinson said. “We’ve always known he is a smart horse, so its onwards and upwards hopefully.
“We took the hood off today, so we have that still up our sleeve.
“We have three lead-in races (to the TAB Mile), but we’ll get him home and have a talk to Barry and go from there.”
TAB Bookmakers reacted by shortening both horses in the Fixed Odds markets for their proposed targets, with Iron Hawk now the $8 favourite for the TAB mile and Unleash The Beast sitting at $10 for the New Zealand Cup. - LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
