He was sent out a $1.80 favourite for the race and could not have been more impressive when scoring a 2¾-length win, easing down.
South Africa-born jockey Craig Zackey let the horse drop out to a clear last of the five runners in the early stages, but always had the leaders in his sights and tracked stablemate Trobriand coming to the home bend.
Tokyo Tycoon was the widest runner turning into the straight, but once balanced up he quickly shot past his rivals and raced away to win by 2¾ lengths, with Zackey affording himself time to give the horse a rub on the head and a pat on the neck as they reached the winning post.
Trainer Mark Walker was delighted with taking out the quinella in the race as he plots a path towards Gr.1 features in the immediate future.
Tokyo Tycoon will now head to Pukekohe on March 11 for the Gr.1 $320,000 Sistema Stakes (1200m) while Trobriand will be reserved for the Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) at Awapuni on April 1.
“He [Tokyo Tycoon] did what we expected but it was still a very nice win,” Walker said.
“I said to Craig to just ride him where he felt comfortable and he did that without taking him out of his comfort zone.
“I felt he would handle the track conditions (heavy-9) as he had trialled very well on a similar track back in November last year.
“I guess the home-track advantage played in our favour a little, but he did show his class nevertheless and I think there is more to come from him.”
Tokyo Tycoon was purchased by David Ellis for $125,000 at last year’s Karaka yearling sales and is by the Rich Hill Stud-based stallion Satono Aladdin out of the Starcraft mare All About The Coin, who was a three-race winner in Australia.
Craig Zackey has been aboard Tokyo Tycoon in his last two wins, the other being the $1 million Karaka Million Classic (1200m) at Pukekohe on January 21.
Zackey has ridden 21 winners, including six at group or listed level, since he arrived in New Zealand in November but he has now headed home with fiancee Sasha and daughter Sierra.
Opie Bosson has been booked to ride Tokyo Tycoon in the Sistema Stakes, which will be the gelding’s last start for the season before he is put aside and brought back for the three-year-old classics in the spring.
Gee String back to her best
It has been a long time between drinks for the connections of Gee String, but the five-year-old gelding finally put it all together when scoring a gallant win in a $30,000 rating 65 race over 1200m at Otaki last Saturday.
The son of Niagara, who is owned by Napier-based Paddy Murphy and his wife Gill Bradshaw, was recording his third win but his first since taking out a rating 74 race over 1200m at Hastings in November 2021.
Murphy and Bradshaw bred Gee String out of the Exploding Prospect mare Gee Baby, and have leased out racing shares to some of their immediate family members as well as a group set up by the horse’s Woodville trainer, Shane Brown.
“Gill and I have a racing share along with my sister Glenys, who lives in Napier, and my son Paul who lives in Perth,” Paddy Murphy said this week.
“Barbara Caryl, who is Gill’s mother, has a share. She is 87 and it is the first horse that she has raced while Gill’s sister Vicki Spellar also has a share. They both live in Napier,” Murphy said.
Gee String was recording his third win from only 14 starts and has also recorded five minor placings.
He was a horse who had a nervous dysfunction as a youngster and Murphy said it had taken Brown a long time to finally get him to settle down and become a real racehorse.
In his first two wins, over 970m and 1200m, Gee String went straight to the front and burned his rivals off but he has now learned how to settle and race a lot more kindly in his races.
He had been missing the start in recent starts, but jockey Ryan Elliot bounced him away brilliantly from the barrier at Otaki last Saturday and quickly had him up disputing the pace.
Gee String took a clear lead rounding the home bend and then showed plenty of fight to hold off a wall of horses chasing him to score by a neck.
Murphy said Gee String’s win was the high point in what had been a topsy-turvy fortnight for him and his wife.
They also own a thoroughbred mare and a three-month-old foal who was grazing on Graham and Isabell Roddick’s Swamp Rd property near Fernhill that was ravaged in the floods caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.
“The mare and foal were among several horses that had to swim to safety through the torrent of floodwater,” Murphy said.
“There was a guy in a canoe that came to the rescue and Graham was calling the horses towards him.
“They were swimming over 2m-high fences and it was a wonder they survived, but both the mare and foal are fortunately safe and well.”
Wilson’s small team firing
Waipukurau owner-trainer Simon Wilson came within centimetres of a winning double with his small team of horses last week.
Wilson saddled up Vidiano to win a rating 60 race over 2040m at Wanganui on Thursday last week, and two days later he produced Scutar for a close second in a $30,000 rating 75 race over 2200m at Otaki. He owns a 50 per cent racing share in both horses.
Vidiano is an Australian-bred mare by Pierro and was recording her second win from 15 starts. She had eight starts in Australia before entering Wilson’s stable where she won a 1400m maiden race at Pakenham and filled three other minor placings.
She had her first start for Wilson in a rating 65 race over 1600m at Hastings in November and finished a good second and was also runner-up behind stablemate Scutar over 2050m at Tauherenikau last month.
Top woman jockey Lisa Allpress was aboard Vidiano at Whanganui last week and gave the mare a perfect run in the trail before lodging a claim for the lead rounding the home turn.
The mare shot to the front and kept up a strong run to the line to win by 3½ lengths.
Dee lands another Gr.1
Former Hastings-based jockey Michael Dee brought up his third Gr.1 victory for the season with a nicely timed ride aboard Little Brose in last Saturday’s A$2 million Blue Diamond Stakes at Sandown.
The 26-year-old’s victory in the 1200m two-year-old feature goes with his successes aboard Durston in the Caulfield Cup and Manzoice in the Victoria Derby last spring and his eighth career win at the elite level.
Dee started out as a probationary apprentice attached to the Hastings stable of Guy Lowry and Grant Cullen before a stint with Whanganui trainer Kevin Myers, and then completed his apprenticeship with Mick Price in Melbourne.
He had his first race ride aboard Blood Brotha in the Stratford Cup (2000m) in December 2012, finishing a close third, and has now has a career tally of more than 600 wins.
Dee said last Saturday’s Gr.1 race unfolded exactly how he planned it would after his mount Little Brose jumped from barrier seven.
“I wanted to be somewhat positive and be as close as I could without putting him out of his comfort zone,” Dee said.
“He travelled strong throughout. There was a bit of jostling there going to that first corner, but to this horse’s credit, he took everything in his stride.
“I’m sure it is onwards and upwards for him from here.”
Prepared by Ben and JD Hayes, Little Brose’s triumph brought up the 10th time the Hayes surname has claimed Victoria’s premier two-year-old race, after their father David won the Blue Diamond six times and their grandfather Colin won it on three occasions.
It was the brothers’ second Gr.1 success together, following last year’s Doncaster Mile win with Mr Brightside.
“It was a beautiful ride from Michael and for Little Brose to win so impressively shows what an exciting horse he is,” Ben Hayes said.
