Racing: Charmont shows class in marvellous mile run

Charmont clears out to win at Tauherenikau yesterday. Photo / Race Images

Class was the dominant factor at Tauherenikau yesterday where Charmont's frustrating search for a black type victory came to a successful conclusion.

The form book strongly suggested that trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman had found the ideal opportunity for the mare in the Listed Te Power Rapa Wairarapa Breeders' Stakes and so it proved.

The best-performed runner in the feature mile was able to sit three wide throughout and she still proved in a league of her own.

"It wasn't pretty, but she was always travelling nicely," said jockey Michael Coleman, who has ridden the High Chaparral mare in four of her last five starts.

Charmont has now won three races, but her quality is emphasised by her third in the Group One New Zealand Oaks and she has also placed multiple times at Group Two and Three level.

"She's been racing in good fields all the way through and been the bridesmaid a number of times so it's nice to get one," Coleman said.

Although she was forced to cover extra ground from an awkward gate, Charmont took the wide passage in her stride and she cruised to the front soon after straightening.

"She put them to bed pretty quickly and held a strong gallop to the line," Coleman said.

She Knows finished from the back for second ahead of Bronsteel and the pacemaker Bella Court.

Charmont is raced by her Cambridge breeder Bob Emery, whose colours were also carried by the five-year-old's grandmother Champagne. The Zabeel mare was a two-time Group One winner and finished runner-up in the 1998 Melbourne Cup.

Champagne's daughter Nadege also won the Wairarapa Breeders' Stakes for Emery in 2010.

- NZ Racing Desk