Karaka Graduate Splurge (NZ) Claims First Stakes Win

Blue-blooded Karaka graduate Splurge (NZ) (Savabeel) added his first stakes win to an outstanding summer when he beat a quality field of sprinters in Saturday’s $100,000 Group 3 Darley Plate (1200m) at Ellerslie.

The Waikato Stud-bred galloper is by champion sire Savabeel out of the stakes winner and Group 1-placed Splashing Out (NZ) (O’Reilly) – dam of five winners including the multiple stakes winner Shopaholic (NZ) (Pins).

Bought by Te Akau principal David Ellis for $500,000 at the 2014 Premier Sale, Splurge became Splashing Out’s second stakes winner with his outstanding Darley Plate win.

Ridden by Opie Bosson, the Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards-trained runner was four wide into the first turn but went forward and slotted into fifth place, one off the rail.

He began to warm up in the straight, but his prospects looked bleak as fellow Karaka graduate Volks Lightning (NZ) (Volksraad) came from behind him and sprinted to the lead. But Splurge got off the canvas and came with a late charge in the last 150 metres, racing past Volks Lightning and winning by a length and a quarter.

“We’ve always known that he’s a real racehorse,” Autridge said. “He doesn’t mind if it’s a wet track or a dry track, and he seems to just know where the post is.

“We weren’t sure if the race today might be a bit too short for him, but he got up and won it. He’s a serious racehorse.”

Raced by the Te Akau 2014 Breeding Syndicate, Splurge has now had 10 starts for six wins, two placings and more than $127,000 in prize-money. He has had five starts in the current campaign for four wins and a fast-finishing second.