KEY POINTS:
Jockey of the moment Opie Bosson had a chuckle when reflecting upon the outstanding victory recorded by iron-horse Sir Slick at Tauranga yesterday.
"I can't remember the last time I've seen a horse like this carry weight like he can in open handicaps or weight-for-age events and do it on any type of track conditions," said Bosson.
"He's just an iron-horse as he can carry the weight and do all the work in front as he's just so tough and has a high cruising speed. He was always travelling well in front here today and a few of them had a crack at him during the early stages of the race but he was cruising."
Sir Slick carried the top weight of 59.5kg in the $125,000 First Sovereign Trust Japan/NZ International Trophy and ran his rivals into submission, kicking clear in the home stretch to defeat Final Reality by a half-length.
A further 1 1/4 lengths away in third was Sarajay.
Sir Slick will travel to Awapuni next Saturday for the Awapuni Gold Cup and Bruce Herd will replace Bosson.
The change in jockey is no reflection on the riding abilities of Bosson, who has done a incredible job riding the 5-year-old in recent weight-for-age events, in the Auckland-Waikato area.
Herd combined with Sir Slick to win the Anniversary Handicap during the Wellington Cup Carnival at Trentham in January.
Herd could not ride Sir Slick a week later in the Thorndon Mile because he had committed to ride his partner Lisa Latta's stable runner Mikki Street.
Tragically Mikki Street broke down in training before the Thorndon Mile and Bosson scored the winning ride on Sir Slick.
Trainer Graeme Nicholson decided after the Thorndon Mile victory that Herd would be the Central Districts rider for Sir Slick with Bosson handling the Auckland-Waikato duties.
Bosson has been the main benefactor, combining with Sir Slick to win three of the combination's last four starts - in Group events - with a ruthless style of front running.
"I believe officials from Singapore have also been chasing Graeme to take the horse to Singapore and he would be an ideal horse for that style of racing as he'd run them along at a great clip.
"Graeme has got this horse incredibly fit and he's taking everything that is thrown at him on the racetrack on race day.
"This horse is in great form at the moment and he just keeps on stepping up to the mark when he's challenged," Bosson said.
Sir Slick has been the dominant racehorse in New Zealand racing in 2007. Rival trainers must now be altering their future racing plans with stable runners to dodge the front running Te Aroha-trained warrior.
