Xtravagant (NZ) (Pentire)
Photo - Trish Dunell
Billed as one of the headline attractions at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, star galloper Xtravagant lived up to the hype with a bold, front-running performance to take out the New Zealand Herald 1400 against his three-year-old rivals.
In an incident packed race that saw a delayed start when Its Ben Again burst through the starting gates prior to the jump along with a horrific fall mid-race by The Justice League, Xtravagant took it all in his stride to deliver the fourth win of his six start career to date with consummate ease.
Xtravagant jumped brilliantly from the gates, allowing rider Matt Cameron to control the speed before putting the race beyond doubt shortly after straightening, showing instant acceleration to leave his rivals floundering.
Although tiring towards the finish, Xtravagant held on to score by one and quarter lengths from the fast finishing pair of His Majesty and Ronchi who both closed late in the piece. Xtravagant cut out the 1400 metres in 1.22.62 with his closing 600m in 36.22 seconds.
While most commentators conceded the race was there for the taking for the son of Pentire co-trainer Stephen Autridge was mildly cautious prior to the start.
"He wasn't wound up for the race as he has a decent campaign ahead of him", he admitted.
"Some people were also a little concerned about his form right-handed although I wasn't worried about that as he had shown us at home he handles it okay.
"The plan today was just to let him do his own thing and see how it would pan out and being the athlete that he is, it worked out well.
"He showed blistering gate speed and although he was getting a little tired towards the end he did all we could ask of him."
Autridge did concede his heart was in his mouth when he saw The Justice League fall after 600 metres as he attempted to take a trail behind the favourite.
"All I could imagine was if we had asked Matt to take a trail," he said.
"That's the last thing you want to see happen so I'm pleased now we rode him forward."
Autridge and training partner Jamie Richards will now turn their sights to a second Group One target for the colt with the Levin Classic at Trentham on the 16th of January before sitting down to plot a path to the Gr. 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington on the 5th of March.
The Justice League was led back to scale after being captured by the clerk of the course and will undergo a veterinary examination while rider Lee Tiley was stood down for her remaining engagements despite being cleared of any major injury. – NZ Racing Desk
In an incident packed race that saw a delayed start when Its Ben Again burst through the starting gates prior to the jump along with a horrific fall mid-race by The Justice League, Xtravagant took it all in his stride to deliver the fourth win of his six start career to date with consummate ease.
Xtravagant jumped brilliantly from the gates, allowing rider Matt Cameron to control the speed before putting the race beyond doubt shortly after straightening, showing instant acceleration to leave his rivals floundering.
Although tiring towards the finish, Xtravagant held on to score by one and quarter lengths from the fast finishing pair of His Majesty and Ronchi who both closed late in the piece. Xtravagant cut out the 1400 metres in 1.22.62 with his closing 600m in 36.22 seconds.
While most commentators conceded the race was there for the taking for the son of Pentire co-trainer Stephen Autridge was mildly cautious prior to the start.
"He wasn't wound up for the race as he has a decent campaign ahead of him", he admitted.
"Some people were also a little concerned about his form right-handed although I wasn't worried about that as he had shown us at home he handles it okay.
"The plan today was just to let him do his own thing and see how it would pan out and being the athlete that he is, it worked out well.
"He showed blistering gate speed and although he was getting a little tired towards the end he did all we could ask of him."
Autridge did concede his heart was in his mouth when he saw The Justice League fall after 600 metres as he attempted to take a trail behind the favourite.
"All I could imagine was if we had asked Matt to take a trail," he said.
"That's the last thing you want to see happen so I'm pleased now we rode him forward."
Autridge and training partner Jamie Richards will now turn their sights to a second Group One target for the colt with the Levin Classic at Trentham on the 16th of January before sitting down to plot a path to the Gr. 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington on the 5th of March.
The Justice League was led back to scale after being captured by the clerk of the course and will undergo a veterinary examination while rider Lee Tiley was stood down for her remaining engagements despite being cleared of any major injury. – NZ Racing Desk