Horse racing: Aussie rider lands first Group 1 win

Matt Cartwright and Grail Seeker win the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy at Hastings yesterday. Photo / Race Images

Australian jockey Matt Cartwright came to New Zealand to chase racing’s holy grail and a horse with the perfect name delivered it for him in the $400,000 Tarzino Trophy at Hastings on Saturday.

Four-year-old mare Grail Seeker gave Cartwright, who has been in the country for only a month, his biggest win as she roared past Faraglioni and Sacred Satono in the first Group 1 of the New Zealand thoroughbred season.

While Cartwright was stunned, so were punters, with hot favourite Crocetti finishing unplaced for the first time in his career after leading, while second favourite Bonny Lass also missed the placings, as the two leaders wilted.

But that would take nothing away from the wonderful training performance of Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott, who played the patient game to take Grail Seeker into the Tarzino fresh while most of her rivals had already had a run to fit them.

She suggested she was on target with a huge trial at Taupō two weeks ago but Group 1 wins fresh up over 1400m are rare, with most trainers preferring a 1200m lead-up race first.

So for Wexford Stables, it is mission accomplished, and Grail Seeker more than doubles in value with that crucial Group 1 secured.

“We couldn’t do it without the faith we have from owners and the hard work of our staff,” says Scott.

Cartwright was an unknown in New Zealand just a month ago, but will be in hot demand now, as he rode two other winners yesterday, his timing perfect, as he has arrived centre stage just as the domestic season starts to get serious.

“These are the races I came here to ride in, so just to be in the race was great, but to win my first Group 1, on a day when I rode three winners, it has to be my best ever day in racing.”

The race will leave plenty of questions around the favourites and how their failures affect their plans for the spring. Grail Seeker, on the other hand, was a $32 outsider for her first-up tilt at the Tarzino.

It was a day of dazzling performances and Cartwright was in the thick of it, as he also guided Poetic Champion to an all-the-way win in the El Roca Trophy for the 3-year-old boys.

The big speedster exploded clear at the top of the straight to win from the late-charging Savaglee.

Heavily-backed favourite Move To Strike faded after looming.

It proved another win for the bookies on a day when punters became an endangered species.

They did get some back, though, in the Gold Trail Stakes, as favourite Alabama Lass was too fast for a brave Captured By Love and an eye-catching Damask Rose.

Alabama Lass was pulled across the face of the field early by Sam Spratt to sit outside the leader and then applied no pressure, turning the race into a sprint up the straight, and the favourite was too sharp.

The fact she was able to relax will also boost her connections’ confidence she might be able to extend out to 1600m by November to tackle the 1000 Guineas at Riccarton.

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.