NZB Kiwi hosts take action to secure classy three-year-old

Affirmative Action will bring strong Ellerslie form to his NZB Kiwi bid. Photo/ Kenton Wright

Auckland Thoroughbred Racing has snapped up Affirmative Action for the $4-million NZB Kiwi to be run on its Ellerslie track on March 7.

ATR confirmed their slot choice to the Herald on Thursday morning after Affirmative Action had galloped on the course proper at Ellerslie.

He was one of several high class horses using the open session to prepare for the Karaka Millions meeting on Saturday week.

It was only a matter of time before Affirmative Action was signed by a NZB Kiwi slot holder as he has been a major player in every big race he has contested this season.

The son of Yes Yes Yes has never been further back than third in his five career starts and, most importantly, his two wins have come at Ellerslie, including the listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy on September 6.

“Affirmative Action is in the top echelon of New Zealand three-year-olds, proven when just beaten in the 2000 Guineas where he sat three wide, loomed to win at the top of straight, and fought strongly to the line to be beaten a nose by Romanoff,” says ATR’s general manager of racing, Craig Baker.

“Data-wise, he has a rating that makes him a leading chance, but also the tactical speed, and liking for Ellerslie that made him a very attractive proposition for ATR.”

Affirmative Action’s signing gives his trainer, Pam Gerard, two in the race as Romanoff was already in the Canterbury Jockey Club slot after he beat his 2000 Guineas at Riccarton in November.

Affirmative Action is the fourth horse signed to a slot for the second running of the NZB Kiwi, joining Well Written, Lollapalooza and Romanoff.

He is rated an $8 chance in the TAB futures market, which is headed by Well Written at $2.

Results at next week’s Karaka Millions meeting could have a huge bearing on who is next invited with the two Te Akau three-year-olds, La Dorada and He Who Dares, looking the most likely next invitations.

But even if they both get slots that still leaves plenty to be filled and slot holders are certain to start paying even closer attention to the Australian three-year-old form of horses who are eligible by being either bred here or sold at a New Zealand Bloodstock sale.

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.