Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Te Rapa trainer David Greene is riding the crest of a wave after he doubled his Group One tally when First Five (Almanzor) took out the BCD Group Sprint (1400m) at his home track on Saturday.
Greene recorded his first elite-level success when the Almanzor five-year-old won last month’s Gr.1 Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham, and he was confident he would go close to keeping his undefeated record over 1400m intact on Saturday.
Despite his last-start heroics, First Five jumped a $7.40 fourth favourite in a market headed by Lindsay Park raiders Arkansaw Kid ($3.20) and Here To Shock ($3.40), and the Australian duo took a stranglehold of the race, sitting in the first two and dictating the early tempo.
Jockey Wiremu Pinn guided First Five into the trail behind Here To Shock, and while the two pacemakers began to open up on the pack, Pinn kept a cool head and didn’t ask his charge to extend until turning for home.
First Five immediately responded to Pinn’s urgings, bounding up alongside the pacemakers and quickly put several lengths on them, and he was able to hold off the late challenge of Sterling Express to win by 1-3/4 lengths.
“I was shocked to see the TAB had opened him up at $13,” Pinn said. “He is just an absolute machine and I thought he played with them today.
“It panned out perfect. I had myself mapped to be outside Here To Shock, but there was a little more speed than I thought. They ran at a genuine pace, which was good, we were in a good rhythm, never spent a penny and he has blown them away.
“He is very special, I think he can win a Group One at 1200m and 2000m. He has got a very bright future.”
Greene was overwhelmed by the enormity of what had transpired, and he was thrilled to get the home Group One victory for his group of supporters.
“There is a huge crowd for him here today and what a win, he just dominated them,” Greene said. “He brained a really good field and that’s how good he is, he is a really top-class horse.
“His work on Tuesday was unreal, he just gets better and better, it is amazing.”
Greene is now looking to test his charge over more ground in the Gr.1 Sport Nation Otaki Maori WFA Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie in a fortnight, with a long-range goal of testing First Five’s talent across the Tasman next spring.
“I guess we will run up at Ellerslie in a couple of weeks and give him a go over a mile,” he said. “There is not really much else left for him unless he is crossing the ditch, which is a difficult thing to do at this late stage of the prep. There is no reason why that isn’t something he can do in the spring.”
Bred by part-owner Gerald Shand, First Five is by Almanzor out of six-win mare Payette. It was a lucrative day at Te Rapa for the family, with his full-brother Rambling On coming up a long head short of victory in the $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karapiro Classic (1600m) earlier on the card.
First Five has now won eight of his 20 starts, including two at elite-level, and has earned north of $810,000 in prizemoney.
