Karaka Stakes Double at Rotorua

A pair of deserving Karaka graduates won the only two stakes races run on Saturday in New Zealand with Ginner Hart (NZ) (Volksraad) and Soriano (NZ) (Savabeel) both triumphant at Rotorua on Saturday.

Ginner Hart (NZ) (oustide) edges out Fix (NZ) to win the Group 3 Lion Red Plate. Photo courtesy of Trish Dunell.

The consistent sprinter Ginner Hart gained a deserved first stakes victory in the Group 3 $70,000 Lion Red Plate (1200m) for trainer Alexander Fields.

The lightly raced Ginner Hart has built an impressive record, winning seven of his 22 starts now. The six-year-old was having his second run this campaign in a race that he finished a close second in last year behind multiple Group 1 winner Viadana (NZ) (Towkay).

Track conditions at Rotorua’s Arawa Park started the day as a Good surface but with rain falling during the day it was downgraded to Dead for the Lion Red Plate.

Regular rider Noel Harris had Ginner Hart racing in a handy position tracking second-favourite Fix (NZ) (Iffraaj) throughout the race. Entering the straight, Harris came to the outside of Fix and the pair set down to fight out the race. It was not until the dying stages in the straight that Ginner Hart got the upper-hand to win by a nose.

“He has always shown us something,” commented Fields. “He won his first start and it rained on the day and he needed that rain yesterday. He throws a bit to the Montjeu sireline – normally the Volksraads need a good track.

“He was just beaten by Viadana in the race last year and she came back at him just on the line and the same thing happened with Fix this year, they are both good horses. That was a strong field, I have seen weaker Group 1 races.

“We don’t have the finances to buy many and that was the most I have ever paid for a horse as I am a small timer. He has been a really good horse to us and we have had a lot of fun with him.

“We are hoping to have a go at the Telegraph at Trentham in January. He was meant to go to that race last year but the track was rock hard so I scratched him on the day. I will give him a week off and I may go to the  Levin Stakes in November. That might be all he does this season, only four starts. He is a six-year-old and we won’t be able to be accused of over-racing him.”

Ginner Hart’s seventh win took his prizemoney to $197,550 for his owners that include his trainer Alexander Fields along with F G Fieldes.

Bred by Hobby Horse Hall Racing (NZ) Ltd, Ginner Hart is by eight-time New Zealand Champion Sire Volksraad out of Montjeu mare Lyford Cay, a half-sister to the dam of Group 3 winner Rum Dum (Pentire Celebre).

Alexander Fields purchased Ginner Hart for just $30,000 from the 2010 Karaka Festival Sale from Windsor Park Stud.

Earlier in the day, the Graeme and Debbie Rogerson trained mare Soriano claimed a deserved stakes victory in the Listed $50,000 Agrodome Rotorua Plate (1950m) following placings in Group 1 races at her last two starts.

Placed in the Group 1 Windsor Park Plate and Group 1 Spring Classic at her two previous starts, Soriano made light work of her 59kg impost as rider Rory Hutchings confidently picked a path between runners and her class shone through with a dominant 1.3 length win.

Soriano, a five-year-old mare, has won five races in her career and has earned $378,287 in prizemoney for her owner and breeder Denise Howell. She was passed in at the 2011 Karaka Premier Sale from Dormello Stud.

Soriano’s dam is the stakes winner Call Me Lily (Just a Dancer), the dam of five winners including the stakes placed Affairoftheheart (Fusaichi Pegasus). She is by Group 1 Cox Plate winner Savabeel and becomes his fourth stakes winner already this season.

Savabeel has 17 two-year-olds catalogued in New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale on 19 & 20 November at Karaka. To view the catalogue for the Ready to Run Sale, click here.