Boom pacer Marketplace has had his first serious hit-out ahead of what promises to be a massive few months.
The Bettor’s Delight three-year-old, a winner of 10 of his 16 starts, hasn’t raced since his Group 1 success in the Garrards NZ Sires’ Stakes Series 3YO Colts and Geldings Final at Addington on May 16.
He then had a five week break before heading to the water walker at Brian and Leslie Court’s in Canterbury. Then there was some light cantering before getting the hobbles back on and the serious job of getting ready to head back to the races. And that’s where his midweek hit-out at Addington Raceway came into play.
“He’s done a good eight weeks work now and that was his first serious hit out,” says trainer Regan Todd.
It was just Marketplace and a galloping pacemaker working over 2400 metres at Addington.
“It’s good because you can work them what you want. You’re not going too slow, you’re not going too quick. And we’ve sort of got everything written down. What we’ve gone with him here in the past, so everything seems pretty bang on at the minute.” says Todd.
“His heart rate was sort of spot on where it needed to be at the moment. And his recovery was good. So we’ll probably look to line up at the trials in a fortnight’s time.”
His first race back this campaign is likely to be the $25,000 Lazarus 3YO Stakes at Addington on September 26. A $100,000 purchase at the 2023 National Standardbred Yearling sales in Christchurch, he looks set to add significantly to his current stakes earnings of over $670K between now and the end of the year.
“I’ve picked out five races for him. So there’s the Lazarus Stakes, the Flying Stakes, Ashburton, hopefully the slot race. And then the Derby is the pinnacle of the end of the year really.”
The Ashburton race is the new 3YO Showcase on Labour Day, October 27.
Such is his standing in the 3YO ranks, Marketplace is currently a $1.45 favourite in both the slot race (the Hill, Lee and Scott The Velocity on November 14) and the New Zealand Pacing Derby a week later on November 21.
Not that Todd seems too bothered about his star three-year-old being billed as the next big thing?
“We just try and enjoy them as much as we can. There is a little bit of pressure there, but there’d be a lot of people who would love to train a horse like him so, you’ve just got to embrace it.”
While the next few months are looking busy, 2026 could see a step up again to taking on the very best.
“We think he could be a Cup horse next year.”