Racing: Kiwi horses claim two $1 million wins

Ryan Elliot gives the thumbs up after his Derby triumph on Sharp N Smart. Photo / Kirstin Ledington

When the chips were down in the $1 million New Zealand Derby at Te Rapa, hot favourite Sharp ‘N’ Smart played his ace: toughness.

That toughness won him New Zealand’s greatest thoroughbred race and might end up making him the best horse in the country.

Punters who took the short odds offered on the star three-year-old didn’t have the easiest watch in the rare Derby at Te Rapa, as he was midfield but with plenty of horses around him, but once Ryan Elliot extricated himself from the inferior traffic and into the clear, Sharp ‘N’ Smart swooped to the lead at the top of the straight.

That took luck out of the equation and it left Sharp ‘N’ Smart clear, vulnerable and a little lonely.

“He started waiting for his mates,” co-trainer Debbie Rogerson said.

His mates, really his rivals, came at the favourite, first Full Of Sincerity, and then, late and hard, it was Andalus.

For a few seconds at the 100m mark, there was shades of the Victoria Derby, when Sharp ‘N’ Smart was clear, only to be run down by Manzoice, like Andalus, a son of Almanzor.

But this older Sharp ‘N’ Smart kicked hard, and as close as the margin was, had they gone another 200m, he still would have won.

He has now won three Group 1s in his last five starts, second in two others and returns to Sydney for the ATC Derby on April 1.

Should he win that, it will take something special to deny him some titles at the New Zealand Horse of the Year awards.

Sharp ‘N’ Smart’s resume already has weight-for-age wins against the older horses, and if his 525kg body can hold together, he could fly the Kiwi flag all over the world before he is done.

The bonus for racing fans is our latest star is a gelding, so there is no stud career threatening to cut short his exploits on the track.

He is fast enough for a Group 1 1600m, especially in the wet, probably finds his sweet spot at 2000m to 2400m, and with his rate of development, there is no reason 3200m couldn’t be in his range.

He is the new people’s horse of New Zealand racing, one we might get to enjoy for a few years to come.

Later in the day, superstar New Zealand filly Legarto provided one of Kiwi racing’s great recent moments on Australian soil with a stunning win in the A$1 million Australian Guineas at Flemington.

The Matamata filly flew late to down the locals in one of Australian racing’s most prestigious three-year-old races in her first race across the Tasman.

Legarto was well back for much of the 1600m classic and looked set to be luckless when trapped with horses either side of her at 200m. But expat jockey Michael Dee threaded the needle at the 100m mark.

It capped a masterly preparation by trainers Ken and Bev Kelso, with Legarto having not raced for six weeks since his luckless Karaka Classic Mile effort. The trainers honed her with track gallops with stablemate Levante, a trial and an exhibition gallop.

Her brilliance gives her two Guineas, one on either side of the Tasman, in just four months and the Kelsos their first win at the highest level in Australia.

It also marks Legarto as a special horse, that Pukekohe defeat her only loss, and her efforts along with the likes of Sharp ‘N’ Smart and others confirms this three-year-old crop as one of the most elite produced here in years.

She now has the option to head to Sydney, where she could be joined by Sharp ‘N’ Smart, Prowess and Polygon among others, to give New Zealand a vintage presence at the Sydney carnival.

There was almost an earlier Group 1 success at Royal Randwick for New Zealand 20 minutes before Legarto’s stunner, with Imperatriz grabbed right on the line by Artorius in the A$600,000 Canterbury Stakes after looking home.