Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images)
Robbie Patterson is fizzing to get to the Gr.3 NZ Campus Of Innovation & Sport Wellington Cup (3200m) with his Group One winner One Bold Cat (The Bold One) later this month.
The Taranaki horseman was confident heading towards the two-mile feature prior to Saturday, but One Bold Cat’s victory in the Listed Vernon & Vazey Truck Parts LTD (2200m) at Trentham has further added to that sentiment.
The seven-year-old gelding was dropping back from elite-level company, having last raced when fifth in the Listed Mufhasa Classic (1600m) at the Upper Hutt track last month, and Patterson was confident of an improved showing.
Sagunto set his customary hot tempo upfront, stringing out the field for much of the journey, with jockey Craig Grylls settling One Bold Cat off the pace in midfield.
The frontrunners began to tire from the 600m, and a wall of horses loomed ominously at the turn, with One Bold Cat in behind them. Grylls navigated his charge into clear running room out wide and once he balanced up, he closed late to win by half a length over a brave Tshiebwe, with a further neck back to Freddie Time in third.
“They ran along at a good speed and he tracked up nicely,” Grylls said. “There was a bit of a wall when they got going and I was able to track up in behind them and got a nice drag into it and he has balanced up and sprinted out to the line. If anything, he was probably starting to get tired and feel the pinch a bit in the last 100m, but he is so honest and is a Group One winner in the past.
“He is an absolute gentleman and is a pleasure to ride. He is a good horse too. I think they plan to press onto the Wellington Cup, he hasn’t been tried at the distance, but he just relaxes so nicely I think he will be alright.”
Patterson was rapt to see One Bold Cat return to winning form and he is excited to press on and test his charge over two miles for the first time later this month.
“It’s just fantastic to have a good old horse like him back,” he said. “He has been going quite well in Group Ones and I knew he would go well today. He is such a beautiful, relaxed horse and they were going so go hard. He is as honest as the day is long.
“I can’t wait for the Wellington Cup. I don’t know whether I will run him in the Trentham Stakes (Gr.3, 2100m), I don’t know I have to, he is not carrying a lot of condition, he is pretty hard fit so I will make up my mind whether he goes straight to the Wellington Cup.
“He won’t get two miles on pedigree, but he will get two miles because he is such a good horse and such a relaxed horse.”
Further elite-level targets could beckon the son of The Bold One, who holds a nomination for the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa next month, a race he placed in two years ago.
“The Herbie Dyke is still on the radar with La Crique retired,” Patterson said. “It would only take one or two more to drop away and we would probably look at the Herbie Dyke.”
One Bold Cat has now won nine of his 26 starts, including the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m), and has amassed more than $630,000 in prizemoney.
