Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
Hunterville gelding Jay Bee Gee (Complacent) is going from strength to strength as a spring seven-year-old, collecting the first two black-type wins of his career within the first two months of the 2024-25 season.
The son of Complacent had showed promising signs with five wins from 17 starts as a five and six-year-old, but he hit new heights when he edged out Freeze Frame and Bradman in a thrilling three-way photo finish to the Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton on August 3.
Saturday’s Gr.3 Hunterville Vet Club Metric Mile (1600m) at Wanganui saw Jay Bee Gee double his black-type tally, and this performance painted a very different picture to last month’s Winter Cup nail-biter.
This time Jay Bee Gee and jockey Kelly Myers strode to the lead within the first 100m of the race and dominated every moment of the Metric Mile from that point on.
Bradman briefly loomed on the outside and lodged a challenge coming down the side of the track, but then Myers cranked Jay Bee Gee up around the corner and turned him loose.
Jay Bee Gee put three or four lengths on the field within a few powerful bounds at the top of the straight, and the result of the $100,000 feature was immediately put beyond any doubt.
Chase and Master Marko finished strongly out of the pack to eat into the margin in the last 100m, but Jay Bee Gee had his ears pricked and plenty left in the tank as he crossed the finish line a length and three-quarters in front of them.
The Metric Mile was the third win on the Wanganui card for Myers, who had guided Landlock and Wire Rope to debut victories earlier in the afternoon.
Myers has taken special satisfaction from riding Jay Bee Gee to this season’s two Group Three victories for trainer Adrian Bull, who shares ownership with his son Harry.
Myers has ridden dozens of winners in Bull’s distinctive emerald green and gold colours, including the Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) with Nashville in 2013.
“He (Jay Bee Gee) is special, and the Bulls are a special family,” Myers said. “It’s so, so nice to win in these colours.
“I was happy to sit outside Tobias today, but then I thought, you know what? He only has 53.5kg, so we’ll take the bull by the horns. The inside part of the track was still good, so it worked out.
“He pulled himself up something chronic halfway up the straight. He thought it was Sunday and pricked his ears and loafed to the line. He had a lot more up his sleeve. I don’t know whether we should put some blinkers on going forward, but he’s a talented horse going through the grades.”
Jay Bee Gee was bred by Sir Peter Vela’s Pencarrow Thoroughbreds and is out of the remarkable Pins mare Huluava, whose nine winners from nine foals to race also include the dual Listed winner William Wallace.
Jay Bee Gee is one of three winners in New Zealand so far this season for Huluava, along with talented Pencarrow homebreds Harmonious and Branciforti. Another of Hulava’s progeny, the unraced Hirondelle, is dam of last year’s Gr.1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) winner Pignan.
Jay Bee Gee was offered by Bradbury Park in Book 2 of Karaka 2019, where Harry Bull bought him for $26,000.
From a 22-race career, Jay Bee Gee has recorded seven wins and five placings and has earned $240,960.
