The $120,000 Listed Opunake Cup (1400m) at New Plymouth on July 19 is looming on the horizon for course specialist Chajaba (NZ) (Keano), who added another win to his remarkable record at the track on Saturday.
Chajaba is now an eight-time winner from 28 career starts, and Saturday’s Seaton Park (1400m) was his sixth win from only 14 appearances at New Plymouth.
The eight-year-old son of Keano was assigned a testing topweight of 60kg for Saturday’s feature sprint, but Egan eased that burden with apprentice jockey Elle Sole’s 3kg claim.
Sole gave Chajaba a perfect run, settling in third place on the inside as Old Town Road (NZ) (El Roca) led the field up to the home turn.
While most of the field fanned away from the rail in search of better footing, Sole saved crucial ground by sticking to the fence around the bend.
Chajaba had made the lead by the time he straightened for home, and the chestnut gelding kicked hard at the 300m mark. Unfazed by the sticky Soft7 conditions, Chajaba scooted clear and put a space between himself and the chasers.
Chajaba kept up a strong gallop all the way to the finish, holding on to beat the late-closing Make Time (NZ) (Makfi) by three-quarters of a length. Soldier Boy (NZ) (Proisir) crossed the line another three lengths away in third.
“That was fantastic,” said Egan, who also co-bred and part-owns the $180,000 earner. “It was a good ride and a very good performance from the horse.
“He loves this track at New Plymouth, he’s won six races here now. They’ve been saying the track is quite sticky today, and he likes those sorts of conditions too, so it looked like a really good race for him today and I was quite confident coming into it. The only worry was the weight, but he did a great job.
“I haven’t looked much further ahead than this race, but I might have to back off him for a while and then just set him for the Opunake Cup in July. I don’t want him to have to carry too much weight in that race, so it’ll probably make sense not to give him too many runs between now and then.”