Padraig
Race Images Palmerston North
Cambridge youngsters Padraig and Felton Road have emerged as serious Karaka Million contenders.
They were successful in their respective two-year-old contests at Trentham and at Ellerslie on Saturday to book their berths in the country's richest juvenile event on January 29.
Wellington Provedoring Premier winner Padraig is trained by Brendon Hawtin while Felton Road, who was too good in the Countdown to Karaka 2017, is prepared by Tony Pike.
The former settled off the pace and the son of Power unwound strongly to win going away under jockey Matt Cameron.
"The horse is just going from strength to strength and it was a 10 out of 10 ride from Matt," Hawtin said.
"When he pushed the button he had plenty of horse and there's more improvement in him.
"He went really well first time out as well, he got a fair way back and made up a lot of ground. He's ticking all the boxes."
Despite racing greenly at Trentham, Padraig still had a length and a half to spare on the filly Dreams Of Platinum with the debutante Santuzza third ahead of the southerner Sensei.
"He's a beautiful, big horse – he's not a natural two-year-old and he still got the job done nicely," Cameron said. "I won't be getting off this one."
Padraig had finished third on debut last month behind Felton Road, who impressively overcame a wide gate on Saturday to maintain his unbeaten record.
"That was good to see the form franked at Wellington and my horse had trained in well," Pike said. – NZ Racing Desk.
They were successful in their respective two-year-old contests at Trentham and at Ellerslie on Saturday to book their berths in the country's richest juvenile event on January 29.
Wellington Provedoring Premier winner Padraig is trained by Brendon Hawtin while Felton Road, who was too good in the Countdown to Karaka 2017, is prepared by Tony Pike.
The former settled off the pace and the son of Power unwound strongly to win going away under jockey Matt Cameron.
"The horse is just going from strength to strength and it was a 10 out of 10 ride from Matt," Hawtin said.
"When he pushed the button he had plenty of horse and there's more improvement in him.
"He went really well first time out as well, he got a fair way back and made up a lot of ground. He's ticking all the boxes."
Despite racing greenly at Trentham, Padraig still had a length and a half to spare on the filly Dreams Of Platinum with the debutante Santuzza third ahead of the southerner Sensei.
"He's a beautiful, big horse – he's not a natural two-year-old and he still got the job done nicely," Cameron said. "I won't be getting off this one."
Padraig had finished third on debut last month behind Felton Road, who impressively overcame a wide gate on Saturday to maintain his unbeaten record.
"That was good to see the form franked at Wellington and my horse had trained in well," Pike said. – NZ Racing Desk.