Racing: Stephen Marsh signals two major goals to cap off best season

Stephen Marsh-trained Velocious won the 2024 Karaka Million 2-year-old race.

Trainer Stephen Marsh has two more goals left to cap the best season of his career and achieving one today could help realise the other.

Marsh goes into today on 99 wins for the season and a clear second on the national trainer’s premiership to runaway winners Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson.

While he seems to fill that role every season, which in itself is no small achievement, this term has been the best of Marsh’s career as his team has won more than $5 million and recorded 10 black-type wins.

They include black-type victories in the Karaka Million and Sistema Stakes with Velocious, the Telegraph with Mercurial and the NZ Bonecrusher Stakes with El Vencedor, those latter three races all Group 1s.

“It has been a hell of a season on the track and I am very proud of what we have accomplished,” Marsh told the Herald.

While stakes won for owners and black-type wins are the biggest drivers for most trainers, Marsh said he’d love to get to 100 wins for the season and also take out the Ryder Stakes at Ōtaki today with Ortega Lass.

“That would take us to 11 black-type wins for the season which would be a new record for us, but to be honest, the level of black-type wins has been very high this season.

“So I’d be thrilled with 100 wins and 11 black-type races, if we could pull that off.”

Ortega Lass is one of only two race winners in the Ryder Stakes for juveniles and Marsh said the courage she showed to slog through a Heavy 10 at Pukekohe for that win could be crucial today.

She is bred to handle the heavy stuff too, her dam Rayas having won her maiden on a heavy track at Ōtaki before finishing second in the Group 3 Wellington Stakes, also on a heavy track, in 2016.

“We know she will get through the heavy track and while I would have preferred she didn’t draw barrier one, being a juvenile field on a heavy track the field will break up and we will see some gaps.”

Marsh also has faith in his jockey Masa Hashizume, who has been one of the big improvers in the jockey’s ranks this season and is now rated a Group race jockey by the leading trainers.

The Ryder could come down to which one of the late-season babies handles the wet track best but with the TAB providing an odds surge product on the Ōtaki races, punters who want to spread their risk can get a decent boost on the horse they favour most, for example, Ortega Lass’ $4.60 opening price is boosted to $5.50.

In the north, Marsh will have each-way chances with his Te Rapa reps on another heavy track at a meeting with some interesting storylines.

Not only does it host the $50,000 Callinan Family Taumarunui Cup but a high-class 3-year-old race, a juvenile race featuring some handy trialists to open the programme and the rare sight of two smart hurdlers in Helena Baby and English Gambler racing in an open 1400m.

While Marsh, and the country’s other trainers, still have their final tallies for the season to be decided when it ends next Wednesday, the prep work is already getting serious for the stars looking forward to next season.

Velocious and fellow smart juvenile Super Photon jumped out together on Friday and will head to what will be a star-studded set of Te Rapa trials on August 6.

“They both look great and I couldn’t be happier with how Velocious has developed during her time off,” Marsh said.

But he insists neither horse has been the centre of serious negotiations yet with slot holders of the $3.5m NZB Kiwi on March 8 for which Velocious is the early favourite.

“I can honestly say they haven’t been yet and we will see how they trial because while we are confident they will be good horses in the spring, not every horse who people want to get to the Kiwi is going to be the right horse for it.

“But yes, we think these two probably will be.”