KEY POINTS:
A South African professional poker player trumped the opposition when Young Centaur emerged as a new star with an easy win in the $350,000 Wellington Cup at Trentham yesterday.
Young Centaur is part-owned by Aston Soon Shiong who operates a food business in South Africa but has also been playing the professional poker circuit, said the horse's Waikato trainer John Sargent.
Sargent shares in the ownership of Young Centaur with Soon Shiong after the trainer bought the horse at an Adelaide sale for A$12,000.
Soon Shiong did not become involved in Young Centaur until meeting up with James Cunneen, who operates a TAB outlet in Hamilton.
Cunneen said Soon Shiong was betting at his TAB when he asked: "How do I get into a horse?"
Cunneen was racing a good harness horse at the time but Soon Shiong wanted thoroughbreds.
Cunneen had operated a TAB in Matamata and that was the area he first thought of to take Soon Shiong.
A deal for a colt by Melbourne Cup winner Jeune was organised and it's now history.
Cunneen and Soon Shiong have since became big players in thoroughbred racing. They, along with Carl Henderson of Challenge Thoroughbreds, last year purchased a property at Ohaupo, near Hamilton, for nearly $1 million where they have a number of breeding stock to go with about six or seven racehorses.
Young Centaur could not have been more impressive yesterday. He settled mid-field, had improved approaching the home turn and was in front as much as 350m from home. He bounded clear in the run to the post to score by 2 3/4 lengths
TRACK CONDITIONS were criticised after race favourite Sir Slick was well beaten in the $250,000 Thorndon Mile.
The race was convincingly won by 3-year-old Alamosa.
Sir Slick, topweight for the Group One 1600m handicap weakened to ninth after being in front at the top of the straight. The track was watered on Friday and was classified as dead with a penetrometer reading of 2.5.
Conditions on the inside became shifty and the pattern of the day became to come wide in the straight.
Sir Slick's rider Bruce Herd said such footing should not prevail for summer racing and the horse was beaten before the start.
"We were stuffed from the beginning," Herd told NZPA.
"There's no way the track should be like that. Why water tracks the night before in the middle of summer?
"All it does it make them shifty."
Wellington Racing Club chief executive David Jewell said it was difficult to find a happy medium.
"Last week we were criticised for having a track at the start of the day at 2.5 [penetrometer reading] that dried and got too hard during the day," Jewell told NZPA.
"It was half of what we normally put on, just to give it a bit of a drink, so at the start of the day the penetrometer would be about 2.5."
He said a heavy dew yesterday morning did not help matters.
Paul Taylor, Alamosa's rider, said some criticism was warranted but it was hard to please everyone.
"You have to be a little bit critical," Taylor said. "We had two horses [Xcellent and Everswindell] break down on the first day and it's a bit of an uneven surface today.
"But they still had good racing. I don't think anyone was too disadvantaged by it."
KEEPA CRUISIN, the surprise improver among the 3-year-old fillies ranks this season won the $100,000 Desert Gold Stakes.
Keepa Cruisin was third favourite for the Group Three event for 3-year-old fillies and after racing three back on the outer hit the lead with 200m remaining to win by 1 1/4 lengths.
The filly is owned by Dick Karreman of Queensland who is best known as the owner of star mare Seachange, winner of last Saturday's Group One Telegraph Handicap.
Karreman's racing manager Rick Williams said Keepa Cruisin had exceeded his expectations.
Katoon got home strongly down the outside to finish second while 1 1/2 lengths away third was Bella Valentina.
The favourite Satinka and second Insouciant were eighth and 11th respectively.
- NZPA
