Provence started this season rated below our best milers but has now won at the highest level three times in the Thorndon Mile, NZ Breeders Stakes and now the TAB Mufhasa Classic, today’s win a prized Group 1 weight-for-age victory.
Her margins in those three majors: a half head in the Thorndon, a short head in the Breeders Stakes and the barest of noses this time.
With the photo so close, Rooke’s ride has to be credited with being the difference as he covered no extra ground while those Provence beat so narrowly were both in the back in the second half of the field.
Rooke may have felt lucky to have even been on Provence as he was dumped off his ride before race two, missing his engagement in race three.
The victory also continued a remarkable 2025 for trainer Stephen Marsh and his team.
Marsh won 17 black-type races last season and leads the black-type premiership with 10 already this campaign.
He also trains reigning Horse of the Year, El Vencedor, and unbeaten NZ 1000 Guineas winner Well Written as his Cambridge stable goes through a purple patch.
“It has been an amazing couple of years on the track,” said Marsh.
“I am lucky to have such great owners and staff that make it all possible and long may it continue.
“Any time this mare wins it means a lot because she is such a fighter and her owner and breeder Tony Rider has put so much into racing.
“And now he has so many others involved as she is also part-owned by Social Racing.
“That whole Social Racing team bring such a wonderful dynamic to winning and so many people to the track.”
Not only is Provence a rare three-time Group 1 winning mare, she is also the older sister of Damask Rose, winner of the Karaka Millions and NZB Kiwi, so even if she never wins another race she is worth a fortune as a broodmare.
Waitak was excellent in second after hitting a brief flat spot between the 300m and 200m mark but should be better for the Zabeel Classic, the next stop of the Group 1 circuit at Ellerslie on Boxing Day.
So too will be La Crique, who went back to last and loomed like a winner at the 300m and nearly broke her streak of Group 1 placings that now stands at seven straight races.
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.
