Horse racing: El Vencedor blows his rivals away

El Vencedor winning Herbie Dyke at Te Rapa. Photo / Supplied

A gamble not many would have taken paid off with a reward not many ever experience in the $700,000 Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa on Saturday.

Heavily-backed favourite El Vencedor blew his rivals away in the Group 1 weight-for-age feature, clearing out from La Crique even after some unexpected mid-race pressure turned the race on its head.

El Vencedor was cruising in the lead when southerner Matscot, who had been over-racing, was given his head by Vinnie Colgan and rushed forward to take control of the race.

But El Vencedor’s jockey Rory Hutchings didn’t miss a beat, smoothly moving from lead to trail to outside the leader and at the 400m he put the pressure on and established the winning break.

It was the second Group 1 win for both jockey and horse but they were only made possible by trainer Stephen Marsh’s daring plan to race El Vencedor at Ellerslie last Saturday with a mammoth weight, a tactic few would attempt a week out from a $700,000 target.

“I wanted him rock hard fit so he could do what he did today,” said Marsh.

“It worked and Rory handled him so well. I don’t often go off during a race but I was jumping around at the 100m mark.

“That was very special for the horse, his owners who have been great supporters of ours and all my staff who work hard to make these things possible.”

The win was not only the richest of El Vencedor’s career but takes him to a points lead in the Rich Hill Middle Distance series with the $1million Bonecrusher NZ Stakes at Ellerslie on March 8 his chance to seal that title.

Earlier in the day Taranaki filly Leica Lucy gave punters a scare before winning the $275,000 Ellis Classic for three-year-old fillies.

She was beautifully placed in the trail before her rivals tried to box her in rounding the home bend and jockey Craig Grylls went for one gap then another, both closing, before he found clear air and the daughter of Derryn exploded away.

It was her fourth win in five starts and a perfect start to her new ownership group after an Australian group led by Ozzie Kheir bought into her this week.

The win saw Leica Lucy shorten into $2.20 favourite for the Oaks at Trentham on March 22.

She wasn’t the only major New Plymouth-trained winner on Saturday as Risque Ruler came from well back to grab the $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karapiro Classic for trainer Janelle Millar in a beautiful ride from Chris Dell.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.