El Vencedor earns a break but trainer Stephen Marsh may still have the Horse of the Year

El Vencedor has struggled to find his best form this season. Photo / Kenton Wright

CHAMPIONS DAY

What: New Zealand’s richest raceday with stakes of $8,550,000.

Where: Ellerslie, Auckland.

When: March 7.

Who: Many of our best gallopers, headlined by unbeaten filly Well Written, taking on a smattering of Australians.

Highlights: $4 million NZB Kiwi, $1.25m HKJC World Pool NZ Derby, $1m Bonecrusher NZ Stakes, $600,000 Trackside Auckland Cup, $600,000 Al Basta Equiworld Dubai Classic, $550,000 Sistema Stakes, $250,000 Haunui Farm Kings Plate.

More info: www.ellerslie.co.nz

As Horse of the Year reigns go, El Vencedor’s was pretty underwhelming but trainer Stephen Marsh isn’t giving up on the popular galloper yet.

The “Big EV” will head to the paddock without defending his Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes title at Ellerslie on Saturday week but Marsh says he will definitely be back for next season.

After a stellar 2024-25 season in which he won a record three Group 1s in 28 days, El Vencedor was the clear winner of our premium honour at the Horse of the Year awards in September.

Since then, barely anything has gone right.

El Vencedor has had nine starts during the season for just one win – the Balmerino Stakes at Group 3 level – and a couple of placings, one of them his second to Waitak in the Livamol Classic.

While Marsh expected El Vencedor to take a few runs to race himself into peak fitness early in the season, it has been a sputtering campaign, which just confirms even a very good horse only has to be a few percentage points off their ultimate performance to go from the winner’s circle to the spelling paddock.

To be fair to EV, some of his performances would be wonderful coming from a normal equine – after all, he was fourth in the Herbie Dyke earlier this month – but it was hardly the season his connections expected or hoped for.

“He just hasn’t got back to that form of last season so we don’t see the point in pressing on to the Bonecrusher,” says Marsh.

“I think the best thing for him is a good long spell.

“He didn’t have that last year because we went to Hong Kong, and while not much went right there, it was still a privilege to go and the trip of a lifetime for everybody involved.

“But I think that trip cutting into his usual spelling time didn’t help this season.

“So he can go to the paddock now and have a good three months and come back and start again.

“We are by no means giving up on him so we will see how he comes up next season.”

While Marsh won’t have El Vencedor back at Ellerslie for Champions Day, he will step Provence up to 2000m for the first time in a weight-for-age Group 1 after her brave third to Jaarffi in the Ōtaki-Māori Classic over 1600m last Saturday.

Legarto remains the $3 favourite for the Bonecrusher in what could be her last career start, ahead of Pier at $4.20, with Jaarffi and Kingswood sharing the $5 third line.

Meanwhile, Marsh isn’t having any issues with the new pin-up girl of New Zealand racing Well Written as she homes in on the $4 million NZB Kiwi on Saturday week.

The unbeaten three-year-old has had a relatively easy time since her Karaka Millions stunner on January 24, but has worked well as Marsh has started to up her programme.

“She is not a horse who needs a lot of work but she is exactly where she needs to be.”

Well Written will be the star attraction when Ellerslie hosts track gallops on Monday morning on the course proper for horses who are competing on Champions Day five days later.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.