Syndicators vie for two-year-old honours

The ever-growing influence of syndicators in New Zealand racing has been mirrored by their decade-long stranglehold on the Champion Two-Year-Old Award – a trend that is set to continue at the 2023-24 edition of the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards.
Syndicates have taken the two-year-old title in eight of the last 11 seasons. The dominant force in that statistic, and in Kiwi racing in general during that period, is the tangerine juggernaut that is Te Akau Racing.
Te Akau and its affiliates have won the Champion Two-Year-Old title for the last seven seasons in succession. Fortuna’s pin-up girl Melody Belle kicked off that extraordinary sequence in 2016-17, and she has been followed by Avantage, Yourdeel, Cool Aza Beel, Sword Of State, Maven Belle and Tokyo Tycoon.
The other syndicator to feature in this list is Go Racing, who claimed the title in 2012-13 with their star filly Ruud Awakening. In between times, the juvenile title was won by Vespa, Marky Mark and Sacred Elixir.
The two biggest players in New Zealand syndication are set to fight it out again for Champion Two-Year-Old honours in 2023-24. Te Akau is strongly represented in its search for an eighth straight title with Group One winner Move To Strike and Group Two-winning fillies Captured By Love and Bellatrix Star, but they face a formidable rival in the blue, white and red colours of Go Racing.
Velocious was bought for Go Racing for $190,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2023, and she turned that into stakes of $922,500 with an exceptional juvenile season.
The Stephen Marsh-trained chestnut had six starts for four wins and a placing, kicking off with a debut victory at Te Rapa on November 11 and Listed success in the Counties Challenge Stakes at Pukekohe two weeks later.
Velocious had her first taste of defeat in the Gr. 2 Eclipse Stakes on New Year’s Day, where she finished a close third behind Bellatrix Star and Move To Strike. But she bounced back brilliantly in the Karaka Millions 2YO at Ellerslie on January 27, bursting clear down the straight and winning by two and a quarter lengths.
The filly’s outstanding campaign culminated in the Gr. 1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie in early March, where she cruised to the lead in the straight and scored another super-impressive win. Her only other start resulted in a below-par seventh after being blocked in the straight on soft footing in the Gr. 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes at Trentham.
Velocious was bred and sold by Inglewood Stud and is by Written Tycoon out of the Snitzel mare Parmalove. Written Tycoon has the rare distinction of topping the two-year-old sires’ premierships on both sides of the Tasman this season. His six runners in New Zealand have produced two stakes winners and total progeny earnings of $1.3 million, while Golden Slipper heroine Lady Of Camelot underpins his impressive Australian tally of A$4.6 million.
Parmalove, whose three named foals have all performed at black-type level, was sold for A$730,000 in an Inglis Digital auction last month.
The other Group One-winning juvenile in New Zealand this season was Move To Strike, who provided an eighth Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes trophy for Te Akau’s mantlepiece. The all-conquering stable had previously won the autumn showpiece with Maroofity (2003), Kindacross (2005), Melody Belle (2017), Avantage (2018), Yourdeel (2019), On The Bubbles (2021) and Maven Belle (2022).
Like the majority of those predecessors on the Sires’ Produce honour roll, Move To Strike was purchased by David Ellis as a yearling. The quality colt went through the ring on the Gold Coast in January of 2023, where he changed hands for A$525,000.
Move To Strike’s four-race juvenile season produced two wins, a placing and $340,250 in stakes, with the promise of much more to come at three. The TAB currently rates him a $6 favourite for the Gr. 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas at Riccarton in November.
Waikato Cup Day at Te Rapa in mid-December marked the first raceday appearance of Move To Strike, and he made a huge first impression. Sent out as a $1.20 favourite, he romped to a breathtaking victory by four and three-quarter lengths.
Move To Strike was upstaged by his stablemate Bellatrix Star in the Eclipse Stakes, then suffered cardiac arrhythmia when fifth in the Gr. 3 Matamata Slipper in February. Trainers Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson took their time with him and set their sights on Group One redemption at Trentham in early April, and the real Move To Strike delivered in style.
After settling at the tail of the 10-horse field, jockey Wiremu Pinn brought Move To Strike to the outside in the straight and let him rip. He unleashed a dazzling turn of foot for a last-to-first triumph.
Move To Strike became the first two-year-old colt by Australian super-sire I Am Invincible to win at Group One level. His dam is the Group Two-winning and Group One-placed Shamardal mare No Evidence Needed.
The Gerry Harvey-bred colt was one of nine yearling purchases by Ellis at the 2023 Magic Millions Gold Coast Yearling Sale. That group also includes the Written Tycoon filly Captured By Love, who Ellis bought for the exact same price as Move To Strike – A$525,000.
Captured By Love lined up in six races during her two-year-old season and never finished further back than third. Her four wins included the Gr. 2 Wakefield Challenge Stakes, Gr. 2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes and Gr. 3 Taranaki 2YO Classic, and she placed in the Gr. 1 Sistema Stakes and Gr. 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes.
Captured By Love joined Velocious as the second stakes-winning juvenile by Written Tycoon in New Zealand this season. Notably, both are daughters of Snitzel mares, and according to Arion Pedigrees statistics, they are the first two stakes winners for that particular cross.
The other member of Walker and Bergerson’s Group-winning trio of two-year-olds this season was Bellatrix Star. The Fortuna filly was bought for just $80,000 by Ellis and Fortuna Racing at Karaka, and she earned $207,700 from a five-start campaign that netted two wins, two placings and a fourth.
Bellatrix Star’s biggest moment came in the Gr. 2 Eclipse Stakes at Pukekohe on New Year’s Day, where she scored an upset win over Move To Strike and Velocious. She was also runner-up behind Velocious in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes and signed off her two-year-old season with a fourth in the Karaka Millions 2YO.
While the juveniles mentioned above are the likely leading contenders for Champion Two-Year-Old honours, they were not the only ones to produce performances of note during the 2023-24 season.
The Tony Pike-trained Archaic Smile had six starts for two wins and a placing. She was a Listed winner of the Wellesley Stakes at Trentham in January, then was runner-up in the Gr. 1 Sistema Stakes at Ellerslie.
Savabeel colt Savaglee showed glimpses of real quality for owners The Oaks Stud and trainers Mike Moroney and Pam Gerard. He was a four-length winner on debut at Trentham in the spring, then scored a spectacular victory in the Gr. 3 Matamata Slipper in February. He went on to contest both autumn Group One features, finishing fourth in the Sistema and sixth in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes.
While Velocious was a clear headline act this season for the Marsh stable, an exciting up-and-comer also announced his arrival in the autumn. Super Photon – from the first crop of Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth – had two starts for two impressive wins, including the Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre 2YO Stakes at Te Rapa in May.
Cambridge Stud homebred Red Sea was a real improver over the course of the season. His maiden win came in the fourth start of his career, scoring by three and a quarter lengths at Matamata in March. Trainer Andrew Forsman stepped him straight up into Group One company from there, where he ran second behind Move To Strike in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes.
Cambridge Stud also took a keen interest in the performances of Te Akau Stud homebred Nucleozor, who is a son of the headline Cambridge stallion Almanzor. The gelding defied Almanzor’s well-earned reputation as a sire of quality stayers, scoring three wins from his only three starts over distances ranging from 820 to 1000 metres. The last of those was the most impressive – a four-length win over next-start stakes winner Discretion Rules in the Listed Welcome Stakes.
Te Akau had another noteworthy performer in the form of Savabeel filly Damask Rose, who won at New Plymouth in late December and was runner-up in the Karaka Millions 2YO in her only other start.
Andrew Forsman appears to have a talented type on his hands with Yaldi. The Ardrossan gelding was a dominant debut winner at Pukekohe, then crossed the Tasman and finished third in the Listed ANZAC Day Stakes at Flemington.