Racing: Culminate turns table on adversary

Culminate returns to scale after a courageous win in the South Auckland Breeders Stakes at Pukekohe on Saturday. Photo / Supplied

Ardmore trainer Stephen McKee received polite congratulations from Brent and Cherie Taylor after Culminate just got home in the $110,000 NRM Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Pukekohe on Saturday.

Eighty minutes later the Taylors embraced McKee when good-class mare Boundless won the $125,000 DHL Counties Cup.

The Taylors co-own Ruud Van Slaats, who was beaten a half-head by Culminate in the Breeders Stakes and Cherie Taylor part owns Boundless.

The Taylors nearly won both features.

Ruud Van Slaats won the Breeders Stakes last year in a close finish with Culminate and once again produced her remarkable fighting qualities.

Last year she led and Culminate could not get past.

This time, in a similar scenario, Culminate went up and put half a length on Ruud Van Slaats, who decided she wanted to win again.

She fought back so strongly she drew level again and rider Mark Du Plessis believed the fact the two mares came close together in the final stages probably counted against him.

"That mare [Ruud Van Slaats] gives you a heart attack," said Stephen McKee. "I thought she was going to take it off us again."

Ruud Van Slaats had only the one run leading into Saturday's race and is the big improver.

The two classy mares will meet next in the $85,000 Cal Isuzu stakes at Te Rapa on Waikato Times Cup day on December 12.

There were some notable runs behind the first two. Outsider Scarlet Vanhara had to barge her way out of a late pocket to take third, a movement that earned Mark Sweeney a nine-raceday suspension.

The winner's stablemate Keepa Cruisin was less than three-quarters of a length away along the rail in an effort that delighted Stephen McKee.

Fifth-placed Tootsie was only 1.5 lengths from Culminate and one of the runs of the race was from Veloce Bella, who finished only eighth, 3.3 lengths from the winners, but impressed with the way she found the line.

"She pulled a plate early in the race and it affected her," said rider Michael Coleman.

Veloce Bella looks to have come up exceptionally well in this preparation and will be a big force when she steps up over more distance than Saturday's 1400m.

McKee has done a good job of getting Boundless back to winning form after the high-class mare went through a patch in the early spring of appearing very cranky on raceday.

As expected, she sat on the speed in the Counties Cup and out-gritted the opposition in the closing stages.

Fiorano, a newcomer to the top ranks, finished strongly along the rail to take second ahead of outsider Solid Billing, also having his first start at this level.

Topweight Ginga Dude had to go back early from a wide gate to avoid covering too much extra ground around the first bend.

He ran on well from the tail of the field from the home bend to finish sixth.

What a remarkable sprinter Richard Beymer is.

And what a great job Waiuku trainer Jakki Good is doing with him.

Yes, you can make a case he might have been lucky to beat a fresh-up Accardo by a neck in Saturday's $60,000 Counties Bowl, but after the pace he set it would have been a shame if he'd been caught.

Richard Beymer ran the 1100m in a remarkable 1:02.86, well inside the 1:03.16 he clocked winning the same race last year.

The 1:03.16 is the equivalent of 1:06.4 for 1200m and 1:02.86 is, well, nearly impossible to get your head around.

And Richard Beymer carried clear topweight of 58.5kg to do it.

Superb.