By Michael Guerin
It was the night of the big statements at Addington on Friday.
Two young horses in Jumal and Ya Rite Darl sent messages to their age group rivals in two of the best races of the meeting and it was perhaps the one who actually triumphed by the smaller margin who left the greatest impression.
Jumal was unbeaten going into the latest Woodlands Sires’ Stakes heat but it looked his biggest challenge, drawn the outside of the front line with two highly talented rivals in Zeus Lightning and Special Occasion drawn inside him.
Driver Samantha Ottley made short work of that by leaning forward at the start and while she didn’t have to ask Jumal for his best he soon worked his way across the front of the field.
That could have seen the race turned into a procession until Blair Orange launched Zeus Lightning starting the last lap but Ottley was awake to his impending challenge so let Jumal slide and he raced down the back straight in 26.5 seconds, rarified air for any mid-race 400m sectional in New Zealand.
That opened up the gaps, allowing Zeus Lightning to drop into the trail but Ottley just kept going and so did Jumal, never looking in danger of defeat while Zeus Lightning’s fan club will only have expanded as he clung bravely to second.
Special Occasion was distanced in third in one of the juvenile races of the season so far and one that suggested the first two are very good horses but maybe Jumal is the real deal.
“I didn’t really go into the race with a plan but when I looked across at the start and saw a few weren’t coming out I let him run out a bit,” said Ottley.
“He did it so easily to get there and then when I saw Zeus Lightning coming down the back I decided to let him run again.
“He may have been closing on us at the finish but I think if he actually had another horse go with him he would have more left.”
Jumal is turning into a real excitement machine for his connections and trainer Steven Reid, an equine reminder of Reid’s skills at the sales and in the stables.
Next stop for most of last night’s main players in the NZBS Harness Million at Addington on October 10 and Jumal is now $2.10 to win that and $2.20 for the Sires’ Stakes Final on Cup Day.
Ya Rite Darl may not have had the same level of competition in the Macca Lodge NZ Sires’ Stakes Trotters Classique, especially after second favourite Habibti Pat galloped at the start, but she destroyed her filly rivals.
Sent straight to the front by John Dunn she roared clear down the back straight and won by 12 and a half lengths, one of the biggest wins in a group race at Addington this century.
The times weren’t overly flash but it was still a brilliant win and one that suggested she will be taken seriously in both The Ascent and NZ Trotting Oaks.
Earlier in the night the Brent Lilley-trained Kyvalley Ray was excellent winning his New Zealand debut in a juvenile trot Sires’ Stakes heat while Cath was super impressive winning the two-year-old pacing fillies race for the Hills, Benny training and Seth driving.
The father and son team were at it again in the main handicap pace when Arthur Shelby overcame some early tap-dancing to win from a late-charging Rubira, the winner confirming what we have all suspected for a while: he is heading to open class.