El Vencedor was the undoubted king of weight-for-age racing last season. Photo / Kenton Wright
El Vencedor may lose the battle but win the war this weekend.
New Zealand’s highest-rated galloper is back at the races in a star-studded $400,000 Proisir Plate at Ellerslie on Saturday, a race trainer Stephen Marsh admits was a late addition to his spring programme.
“Originally we were going to miss this and go to the last two legs of the Triple Crown over 1600m and 2000m,” Marsh says.
“But he is just so well, he is ready to go.
“We took him up to Ellerslie last week and he trialled super and he is definitely not as big as he was this time last year, which will be a real help.”
El Vencedor spent the entire Triple Crown on the back hoof last season as, being a naturally big-barrelled horse, he struggled to trim down over the spring.
Marsh says El Vencedor’s trip to Hong Kong in April, where he ultimately undid himself by over-racing, may actually be ready to pay dividends this spring.
“Because he went up there and raced later in to the season, he didn’t have as long out spelling and he hasn’t got as fat.
“We are really happy where he is at so I think he will be competitive in the next two legs of the Group 1s.”
But Marsh admits he would be surprised if the big “EV” could outsprint some of our fastest horses over 1400m this Saturday.
“It is not impossible but we are not really going there expecting him to win.
“I think he will go a good race and I have no set plans on what I think a good performance or pass mark will be.
“Whether he finishes in the money or fifth or something like that, I think our eye will tell us how happy we will be with him.”
Wiremu Pinn will partner the now 7-year-old, who was rated a $12 chance by the TAB last night ahead of the final field declaration at 10.30am on Wednesday.
Regardless of how the Proisir Plate pans out for El Vencedor, he must be the warm favourite for another important victory this weekend at the Horse of the Year awards in Hamilton on Sunday night.
He is one of three finalists for Middle Distance Horse of the Year, after making history by becoming the first New Zealand horse in the modern era to win three Group 1 races in 28 days.
While others like Grail Seeker (two Group 1s) and Damask Rose (Karaka Millions Three-Year-Old, NZB Kiwi) have legitimate claims to the overall Horse of the Year title, if there was a market on who wins the ultimate prize, El Vencedor would be the favourite.
It won’t just be his big equine tank of a stable star who Marsh takes to Ellerslie on Saturday for the meeting that signals the start of spring racing, a date most trainers have been working backwards from for months.
He has five 3-year-old fillies nominated for the $150,000 Gold Trail Stakes, headed by black-type winners To Cap It All and Little Black Dress.
“We also have Lady Iris, Tale Of The Gypsy and Miss Moet All in the Gold Trail but we have the option to split the five of them and maybe aim one or two of them at the Sir Colin Meads Trophy, so we will see how both races are shaping up tomorrow.”
The Sir Colin Meads Trophy is, like the Gold Trail, over 1200m for 3-year-olds but also open to male gallopers and has New Zealand 2000 Guineas winner Hostility among the entries.
New Zealand Bloodstock will present one of the biggest Ready To Run sales ever held in this part of the world in November.
The auction house has released the catalogue for its 2025 sale, with 480 2-year-olds to be sold over two days, as demand for New Zealand horses in training has skyrocketed.
Previous Ready To Run sales candidates won 10 Group 1 races last season, while the sale set a new Southern Hemisphere record with a $1.65 million lot.
The catalogue is now online, with the sale to be held at Karaka on November 12 and 13.
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.