Horse racing: New sensation of the saddle steps into big time – Mick On Monday

Bruno Queiroz has had plenty of reasons to smile since he started riding here in May. Photo / Race Images

The surprising new riding star of New Zealand racing has been handed the biggest challenge of his career at Ellerslie on Saturday.

Brazilian jockey Bruno Queiroz, who has been in sensational form since coming to New Zealand five months ago, will partner favourite Grail Seeker in the first Group 1 of the season, the $400,000 Proisir Plate.

It is a huge vote of confidence in the 23-year-old, especially considering Grail Seeker is co-trained by legendary jockey Lance O’Sullivan, a notoriously hard marker of jockeys.

“We like what we see of him and are happy to have him on,” O’Sullivan, who along with partner Andrew Scott will have four starters in the Proisir, said.

Queiroz had a great start to his career in Brazil but his godfather, global superstar jockey Joao Moreira, suggested he needed overseas experience – so he had a short stint in Singapore last year before racing in the Lion City closed permanently.

It was while riding there that Queiroz worked with New Zealand trainer Stephan Gray, and when Gray returned to New Zealand to train, he invited Queiroz in what has been a huge win for Central Districts racing.

Queiroz sits second on the national premiership with 10 wins from just 33 rides this season and overall has ridden in just 165 races in New Zealand for 34 winners, including Platinum Diamond in Saturday’s Wanganui Guineas.

He has made such an impression, he is the $3.60 favourite to win the New Zealand jockey’s premiership in his first full season here.

“He is a very good rider and learning all the time and his English is getting better too,” Gray said.

“To see trainers like Lance and Scotty put him on a good winning chance in a Group 1 really says something, as Lance is a serious judge of a jockey.”

Queiroz will be stepping straight into the big time as the Proisir Plate is shaping as one of the hottest first Group 1s in recent New Zealand history – albeit this race did contain Imperatriz, La Crique and Dark Destroyer in 2022.

This year’s field is deeper though, with the connections of all the main players confirming to the Herald they intend to start if all goes well this week.

Of the top 16 who were confirmed a place in the 1400m feature, only Val Di Zoldo is definitely not starting, with trainer Tony Pike preferring an easier first-up run before setting her for the second Group 1 of the season, the Howden Insurance Mile at Te Rapa on September 27.

Trainer Graeme Rogerson will decide on Monday morning whether his pair of Sharp N Smart and Domain Ace start but the latter, being only a Rating 70 galloper who ran last of eight in a Rating 75 at Ruakākā last month, must be doubtful.

So, heading into race week, the first 17 in the rankings (taking out Val Di Zoldo) are guaranteed a start, meaning Checkmate sneaks into the race while the connections of the 18th-ranked Quintessa can feel pretty confident they will also be starting on Saturday.

The Proisir Plate players have taken vastly different pathways to the $400,000 race.

Some, like Sterling Express and Dusty Road, come via the Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa, Tuxedo was a fresh-up winner at Ruakākā, while many of the proven Group 1 performers have had a mix of either one or two trials.

Others like Navigator confirmed their start with sparkling track work in an open session on the course proper at Ellerslie on Thursday, while trainer John Wheeler will take an even more radical approach with his rep Herbert.

“He missed a trial I wanted to go to recently so he will have a nice, quiet trial at Waverley on Tuesday,” Wheeler said.

The TAB have Grail Seeker and Legarto (Vinnie Colgan) as equal $4 favourites, with La Crique (Michael McNab), Tomodachi (Joe Doyle) and Tuxedo (George Rooke) sharing the next line of betting at $8.

The final field for the first Group 1 of the season will be released at about 10.30am on Wednesday.

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.