Racing: Fightback sees favourite beaten

Hayden Tinsley guides I am Sam to victory in the Ag Challenge Stakes at Wanganui Racecourse, just ahead of Opie Bosson on the back of I Do. Photo/Bevabn Conley

I Am Sam made a real name for himself when downing the short-priced favourite in the Listed $50,000 Ag Challenge Stakes at Wanganui on Saturday.

Many went into the 1600m event convinced they were running for place money only with 12-race winner I Do in the field. The No Excuses Needed Allan Sharrock-trained mare had won three of her past four starts, including an effortless victory in the Rotorua Stakes earlier in the month.

Sharrock was also convinced she would remain unbeaten. No one, however, told I Am Sam.

The pair cleared out in the home straight and the battle lines were drawn with Opie Bosson on the favourite and Hayden Tinsley on the Bryce Revell-trained I Am Sam.

At one point it looked like I Do may have had his measure, but the Al Akbar 7-year-old showed just how tough he is by fighting back for victory by half a neck. Wanganui-trained Taurus, the early leader hung on grimly for third.

Revell said he had struggled to get his team fit this season, but knew he was nearing the mark with I Am Sam after running a gritty fifth on a bottomless Trentham track just last week.

"After that run I thought it was well worth backing up here at Wanganui. The Wellington run really cleaned him up. He's been a good horse all the way through winning 10 races before today, but this is his first stakes race," Revell said.

"He's not overly big and has had to carry big weights, but this weight-for-age race evened it up. I may have a fourth crack at the Winter Cup."

Meanwhile, Australian-bred Leeds laid claims to early new-season 3-year-old riches after downing another hotpot in the $50,000 Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes for juveniles.

Previously unbeaten Guillotine filly Queen Of Navarre from the Peter and Jacob McKay barn in Matamata went out a short-priced favourite and very nearly repaid that support. Unfortunately for connections the I Am Invincible-Swentre gelding from Mike Breslin's Awapuni yard arrived late to ruin the party by a short neck.

Breslin said he and part-owner Peter Didham, a former jockey and trainer, had always held Leeds in high regard.

"It took a bit of time to teach him the game and Jonathan Riddell [Saturday's rider] played a major role in that and rode him beautifully today," Breslin said.

Major weight relief and a heady ride by young apprentice Kei Chiong got Get The Message home by three quarters of a length in the $25,000 Barber Groundspray Foxton Cup on Saturday.

A hard-fought second in the Trentham bog the week before and the claiming conditions of the Foxton Cup convinced trainer Howie Matthews to back up with his massive 17.5 hand-high gelding.

"He only had to carry 51kg and Kei rode perfectly," Matthews said.

Chiong had Get The Message up near the pace early before taking control a fair way out. They maintained a strong gallop to the line to beat locally-trained Thorn Prince, with race favourite Addictive Habit third.

Both the Castletown Stakes and the Foxton Cup are likely to return to their hometown track next season after a rebuild of facilities following an arson attack at the Foxton club two years ago.