Lassified is already a black-type winner in New Zealand so heads to an A$2 million race in Sydney on Saturday. Photo / Peter Rubery
Waikato trainer Andrew Forsman will be defending at home and attacking overseas in a blockbuster few hours, with nearly $4 million up for grabs in his target races tomorrow.
The Cambridge horseman has genuine contenders in four of the five major races at Te Rapa tomorrow, headlined by Hinekaha in the $700,000 Herbie Dyke and with 3-year-old fillies Single Red and Chilling Out potentially to be split between the Waikato Guineas and the Ellis Classic.
Forsman also has the equal-topweight Rambling On in the $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karāpiro Classic, but as large as Te Rapa looms, his biggest, and most personal, moment could come at Randwick.
Forsman has juvenile filly Lassified in the A$2 million ($2.33m) Inglis Millennium, the Inglis sale race which is the Sydney sales company’s version of the Karaka Millions.
All three major Australasian sales companies have a rich race series restricted to graduates of their own sale, but it is extremely rare for New Zealand-trained horses to line up in a Magic Millions or Inglis Millennium race.
One of the reasons is it can be quite a daunting trip for an early season juvenile to go to another country (unless they are trained by Liam Birchley) while, put simply, not a lot of New Zealand-trained juveniles win major races in Australia.
But Forsman is happy to take the risk, as Lassified has already ticked the most important box for a juvenile filly in New Zealand.
“She has already won a black-type race here and of course being purchased at the Inglis Classic sale, she wasn’t eligible for the Karaka Millions, so this was the logical goal,” he said.
“It is obviously huge money and she also has the advantage of having an ownership group which is majority female so she becomes eligible for the Pink Bonus.”
That bonus is open to horses with at least 75% of the owners being female and if a horse meeting that criteria were to win tomorrow’s Millennium, it would trigger a A$400,000 bonus payment.
Making that even more personal for Forsman is the fact his mother Lynne and sister Briar both share in the ownership of Lassified.
“I’d love to win it for all the owners but of course any success we have with this filly is very special with my family involved,” Forsman said.
“She has drawn a bit wider than I would have liked and to be honest I don’t know any of the form around her so it is hard to predict how she will go.”
Forsman knows the form around Hinekaha (Race 6, No 9) in the Herbie Dyke very well though and expects his mare to race up on the speed – and rates her an each-way chance.
“Obviously, you never really know how they will measure up at Group 1 level until they do it but form around her in her last two starts would suggest she will be very competitive.”
Hinekaha won the Cal Isuzu Stakes two starts ago, beating Queen Zou and Jaarffi, who have since franked that form, while last start she was caught late by Tuxedo in the $1m Aotearoa Classic at Ellerslie, beating home tomorrow’s second-favourite, Knobelas.
“Even though she ran second in that and went great, we think she is better left-handed so she will get her chance on Saturday.”
Chilling Out will step out over distance (2100m) for the first time in a hot Ellis Classic field but Forsman is undecided whether stablemate Single Red also starts in that fillies’ race or the Legacy Lodge Waikato Guineas against the boys earlier in the programme.
“They are both really promising fillies on an Oaks path and while we think Chilling Out has that touch of class, Single Red is handling her prep really well so we will know more after Saturday.”
Rambling On (R5, No 1) won so well on this track over 1600m last start, he has to be a chance in the Karāpiro Classic but he meets a pleasingly deep field with numerous winning chances in what will prove a hot form race.
“And I think The Espy has a good each way chance in the first race,” Forsman added.
Andrew Forsman’s Saturday hit list
Te Rapa
Race 4, $275,000 Legacy Lodge Waikato Guineas: Single Red (likely)
R5, $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karāpiro Classic: Rambling On.0,000 Herbie Dyke Stakes: Hinekaha.
R7, $275
R6, $70,000 Ellis Classic: Chilling Out and possibly Single Red.
Randwick
R7, A$2m Inglis Millennium: Lassified.
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.