Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
In a nail-biting finish to Sunday’s Listed Gingernuts Salver (2100m), the roar of adoring connections was heard in the Ellerslie grandstand when maiden galloper Mustang Morgan (Preferment) was found victorious.
Coming into Sunday’s feature, Mustang Morgan had been improving through the distances and finished third behind Bourbon Proof over a mile at Matamata last month, setting him up for the three-year-old staying contest.
The Andrew Forsman-trained galloper started among the middle market at $10, while Te Akau’s pair of Class and Hakkinen were the favoured runners ahead of Golden Century. From a wide draw, Class went straight to the lead, while Mustang Morgan settled beautifully in the second half of the field for Warren Kennedy.
After maintaining a strong tempo, the front-runners began to tire early in the run home, while Golden Century and Mustang Morgan came together up the centre, going head-to-head for the last 200m. Neither horse would let up in a head-bobbing finish, with Mustang Morgan lunging at the right time to edge out Golden Century by just a nose, with the late-charging Casemiro and Hakkinen only a long neck and a head further adrift.
Mustang Morgan was bred by Rayner and Lynn Bonnington of Little River Thoroughbreds, who syndicated the gelding out to friends, many of which were on course to celebrate his success.
“It was a great result and it was a race we’ve probably targeted for a little while, so they’ve got a good crew here today on course, they’ve flown from all over the place,” Forsman said. “Thankfully it worked out.
“I didn’t know (if he had won), I was probably on a bad angle and thought it was very tight. I just hoped we got the bob in at the right time.”
The Gingernuts Salver has acted as a launchpad in previous years for the $1.5 million Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m), a race Forsman hopes to target with the son of Preferment on March 8.
“He’s certainly got the pedigree to do it and he keeps improving all the time, he’s got good size and scope about him so there’s no reason why he can’t continue to get better,” he said.
“We may give him a little bit of a freshen up but there’s not too much time. We may go through a Waikato (Gr.2, 2000m) to Avondale Guineas (Gr.2, 2100m) type of path. We’ll just work out how many more runs he needs.”
Kennedy, who completed a winning treble after picking up wins aboard Koheroa and Checkmate, praised the gelding’s efforts as a inexperienced galloper.
“I went up to Ryan (Elliot, jockey of Golden Century) and thought I’d get past him and win it a bit more comfortably than that, but this horse didn’t really know what was expected of him when he got there,” he said.
“He had to put up a really dogged fight and it was courageous from the horse that he rallied back to get the win.
“It (the Derby) is possible, you never know how much they learn from their races and he’s still very immature. A tough race like the Derby could be a little bit of a stretch, but he’s got a long way to get to that race and he’ll have a couple more races before then.
“He stayed really well and found the line pretty good.”
Mustang Morgan is out of the Bonnington’s late broodmare Assertiveobsession. Herself unraced, the mare is a full-sister to Assertive Lad, a three-time Group One winner in Australia, and Assertive Lass, who also won a pair of Group Ones across the Tasman.
The gelding has now collected $61,650 in stakes earnings with a win and two minor placings from five starts for the big ownership group.
“I just brought a whole lot of mates together when the horse was a two-year-old, and this is such a great group of guys,” Raynor Bonnington said. “What a buzz.”
“That (the Derby) is the goal. The boys have been dreaming, we have been for the last two weeks about this day. We’ve got guys from Wanaka, Dunedin and Wellington, all here today.
“Warren loved the horse, he stayed on him again so it’s very cool.”
