There have been three Group 1 races at the Sydney Autumn Carnival and the Kiwis have won then all, the latest coming when the first-up specialist The Bostonian left the chasing pack with no excuses in Saturday’s $500,000 Group 1 Heineken 3 Canterbury Stakes (1300m) at Randwick.
Given a positive ride by Nash Rawiller, The Bostonian tracked James McDonald on Savatiano well into the straight before easing past at the 200 metres to defeat the 5yo daughter of Street Cry (IRE) by with the outsider Mister Sea Wolf back in third.
Last week at Randwick it was Probabeel in the Group 1 Surround Stakes and Te Akau Shark in the Chipping Norton Stakes who shared the spoils at the top level.
The winner of six of his seven first-up runs, The Bostonian added the Canterbury Stakes to his Group 1 wins at last year’s Brisbane Winter Carnival in the Doomben 10000 and the Kingsford - Smith Cup.
It was a first Group 1 for Rawiller since returning from a stint in Hong Kong.
“I feel like I’ve been in the wilderness for too long,’ Rawiller said.
“The speed was panning out a bit too quick early, so I eased out of it. I held him up for as long as I could and when I produced him, he was unbeatable today.”
The Tony Pike-trained son of Jimmy Choux advances his record to 10 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third from 22 starts with earnings of $1,647,277.
He was making his first starts since finishing unplaced behind Nature Strip in the Group 1 Darley Sprint Classic at Flemington in November but Pike is convinced The Bostonian races better when going right-handed and with the sting out of the ground but was revelling in the success of the New Zealanders.
“It’s great for the New Zealand industry as a whole, we’ve had a few quiet years, but we have some really nice horses at home,” Pike said.
“I thought 1200 metres was a bit sharp for him, so 1300 metres was ideal first-up and the track conditions was ideal for him. It was a touch firm for him in Melbourne. I thought he could win the Manikato but he did not let go on a firm track that night. If he can get conditions like this throughout the carnival here he will be competitive in whatever he runs in.
Pike indicated the George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill in two weeks is likely to be the next starts for The Bostonian.
“We might have a big problem with another New Zealander (Te Akau Shark) in that race.
A homebred for David Archer, The Bostonian is the third foal of the winning Keeper mare Keepa Cheval who is a half-sister to multiple Group 1 winner and NZ Horse Of The Year (King) Mufhasa (Pentire).
The Bostonian is a full-brother to the Chris Waller-trained Chaussure who won consecutive races at Warwick Farm and Canterbury back in November 2016.
A Makfi colt out of Keepa Cheval was knocked down to Hong Kong's Alan Lee and Mr Danny Shum for $180,000 at the Premier Yearling Sale at Karaka, while her Iffraaj (GB) colt was purchased by Ciaron Maher Bloodstock for $80,000 out of the Cambridge Stud draft at the 2020 NZB Karaka Book 1.
After foaling a Almanzor (FR) filly last spring Keepa Cheval was covered by Ocean Park.
The Bostonian is the only Group 1 winner to date for Jimmy Choux (Thorn Park) who stood at Wayne and Tracy Rodwell's Rosalee Park Stud in Serpentine, WA in 2019 at a fee of $4,950.
