New Zealand mare Hankee Alpha has wasted little time in making her mark across the Tasman, with her Australian debut producing a six-length runaway in Saturday’s A$80,000 TAB One Pool (1200m) at Flemington.
Hankee Alpha has joined Cindy Alderson’s Cranbourne stable this season, having spent the first part of her career with Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott in Matamata. The Wexford Stables team trained her to win twice and place on another four occasions, along with close fifths in the Gr.3 Almanzor Trophy (1200m) and Listed Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m).
Carrying the familiar blue and gold colours of part-owner Bryan Black, Hankee Alpha warmed up for her first Australian campaign with a pair of impressive trial wins on August 31 and September 14. She was prominent in the market for her intended first Victorian start at Mornington on September 26 but was late-scratched after being kicked by a horse that became cast in a neighbouring gate.
Connections had to wait another couple of weeks for Hankee Alpha’s season to get underway, but Saturday’s performance was well worth the wait.
Hankee Alpha was patiently ridden by Craig Williams and settled near the tail of the field before angling to the outside and beginning to make up ground.
Having scored a six-length maiden win on heavy ground at Te Aroha in the spring of 2024, Hankee Alpha was unfazed by the Heavy10 conditions at Flemington on Saturday. When Williams let her rip, she quickly blasted clear of her 12 opponents and went on to score a dominant win.
“When I was doing my form, my manager was excited to have this ride,” Williams said. “She was fifth emergency and not in the field, but he said, ‘It will come. It will come.’
“Cindy was confident that the horse would handle the Flemington straight, and she was very, very effective today.
“I watched her replays from New Zealand and could see why she has been favourite and why she would have been, on her form, a big chance in today’s race. She was always likely to handle the ground.
“She travelled not so nicely and when she came out, but I thought ‘let’s trust her’, and her response was really sharp.
“We actually got there too early, and I thought, ‘You’re here now, so you’re going to have to keep going.’ She really kept quickening up and accelerating, so it was impressive.”
Hankee Alpha has now had 12 starts for three wins, four placings and A$196,159 in stakes.
“I have trained for Brian and Dee Black and their friends for quite a while now,” Alderson said. “They sent Chatahootchie over for the greys’ race and ran third, so they thought they needed to up their game. So they sent Hankee Alpha, and I think they have upped the game.
“I follow Brian’s horses and I’ve always had a liking for this filly. I think she has been unlucky in New Zealand a number of times, and I thought she’d be good down the straight. But I wanted to get a run under my belt first, because it can be quite daunting.
“She seemed to lap it up and Craig gave her a great ride. I thought he might have gone a bit early on her, but luckily she was fit enough.
“Her pattern in New Zealand was that she’d be slow out of the barriers, didn’t muster a lot of speed and then would not get around corners that well. When I watched that, I thought she was definitely a straight horse, in my opinion.
“Since she has been over here, Ethan (Brown) trialled her and did a great job. He couldn’t ride her the other day when that misfortune happened. He said she’s straightforward and push-button.”
A daughter of two-time champion New Zealand sire Proisir, Hankee Alpha was bred by Tony and Nikki Brown, who won four races with her dam Queen Of Navarre.
Highline Thoroughbreds offered Hankee Alpha in Book 2 of Karaka 2023, where Paul Moroney Bloodstock and Catheryne Bruggeman bought her for $35,000. – NZ Racing Desk.
