Racing: Carpe Diem seizes the win and runs away with Foxton Cup at Whanganui

Carpe Diem ridden by Warren Kennedy claims the win in the Foxton Cup at Whanganui on Saturday. Photo / Bruce Falloon

The Foxton Cup and the Castletown Stakes were run and won at Whanganui on Saturday under sunny conditions.

It was good to see Carpe Diem, who is part owned and trained by Brendon McDermott from Waitarere Beach and also does some track work at Foxton, in the winner’s circle.

Carpe Diem was ridden by jockey Warren Kennedy, who said it was a fairly uncomplicated outing.

“It was a pretty straightforward ride and best to be in the first four, and get him relaxed, which he relaxed beautifully.

“Carpe Diem started to track up at the 800m mark, and coming around the home turn when I got him balanced I started to urge him along. He responded very well and it would be very had for the opposing horses to make up this ground on me as we had stolen a short break on the field.”

Kennedy was pleased with Carpe Diem’s staying power.

“I was really grateful that he kept up the momentum and get the job done.”

McDermott said it was a great result.

“We were pretty confident coming into today’s race based on last year where he finished second. He likes backing up from his races, however, when he gets to the front he has a tendency to put the brakes on a little bit and gets a bit lost.

“Once Warren moved him right out wide coming around and into the home straight, that was the key to this success today.

“From here we’ll give him a short break and plan for his next assignment.”

Carpe Diem is an eight-year-old gelding by Jimmy Choux from Fashion Society.

The other feature on the eight-race programme was this year’s running of the Castletown Stakes.

This was won by two-year-old bay gelding Belardi, trained by Andrew Forsman at Cambridge.