Strong pace-making performances led to wins in both of the Invitation races on Sunday’s Auckland Cup card. Kava Blu prevailed in the $7,500 Stakes, while it was Sketchy Chief who landed the $5,000 Sprint win.
Pictured: Kava Blu after winning the Invitation Stakes
Kava Blu was the runner up in last year’s Plasterboard Auckland Cup when prepared by Dave and Jean Fahey. He returned in their care to contest the heats for this year’s edition, however an unplaced heat finish saw him being transferred into the Wayne and Tracey Steele kennels.
The Te Awamutu based trainers accepted with him for what was basically the Auckland Cup consolation. He was allocated the five trap to exit from which certainly didn’t faze him whatsoever. He bounded away quickly from the 527m traps, seized the race lead going into the first turn from where he was never headed.
He thrived in his pace-making duties which saw him being rewarded with his 22nd career win when returning 30.78s for his gallop. For the third Sunday in a row, it was another minor placing for the Lisa Cole prepared Timma Turtle. He stuck gamely to his task after chasing the pace-setter to finish 1.75 lengths behind. A further 2.5 lengths back saw Lochinvar Brogue extending nicely during the run home to cut out his Denis Schofield trained kennel Gold Class out of third by a head.
An earlier downgrade back to C4 cost the Greg Hore and Peter Fergusson prepared Sketchy Chief a place in the Railway Sprint heats. A return to his home Cambridge track saw him peeling off a pair of C3/4 and C4/5 375m win prior to heading into his Invitation Sprint assignment. He also made no mistake at trap rise which saw him beginning smartly which translated into his 2.75 length win. Ironically, his 18.34s 318m time was a tad quicker than what the Railway Sprint final was completed in.
Von Trap has been a consistent Manukau 318m sprinter for a long time and he maintained that consistency by leading the chase home behind the pacemaker for his second placing for his local trainer Ben Craik. Again it was a pair of Schofield trained kennel mates who decided the First4 thin end placings as a further two lengths behind as Fantastic Sid who led home Fantastic Ava by the same margin to claim third.
Kava Blu following his Invitation Stakes win with Cory Steele, former co trainer Jean Fahey and AGRC board member Rupert Fairbrother; Sketchy Chief after his Invitation Sprint win and with Danny Lang, co-trainer Greg Hore and Wendy Fergusson
As usual the undercard to the Group 1 meeting featured strong chasing action. Here’s a pictorial run down on the other winners.
From left: Alex Attack was the first of two winners during the afternoon for the Jared Udy and Denise Cottam training partnership when he won the opening 318m sprint; Beat The Butcher capped off a consistent run of solid form to graduate into the open class chasing ranks for his trainers Ross and Lyn Udy, seen here with handler Marsha Black, Ross Udy & AGRC board member Rupert Fairbrother; the Greg Hore & Peter Fergusson training partnership hinted at what was to come when they produced Tron Bradman to strongly win the C3 527 event, seen here with Wendy Fergusson
Canterbury trainer Craig Roberts tasted success with My First Litter over the 318m dash, seen here with handler Greg Pomeroy; it was the Denis Schofield trainer Rock Lass who prevailed in the C 2 520m race, seen here with handler Melissa Steele and race sponsor Carol Delliamore
Fortis Flyer downgraded and struck straight away when winning her C1 520m assignment for Jared Udy and Denise Cottam. She’s pictured here with handler Shardae Hunt and owing syndicate manager Adam Smith; No More Debt won the last race Erena Kokeheke Sprint, seen here with handler Mark Smith, the newly retired northern region lure driver Erena Kokeheke and trainer Thayne Green; a new innovation was introduced to the Trackside TV coverage with a drone being used to provide overhead coverage of races
By Peter Fenemor-The Dogs
