Suzy Gordon was in the spotlight at Awapuni’s first synthetic meeting of the winter on Sunday, with a winning double headlined by surface specialist Doubtful Sound (Not A Single Doubt).
The gelding by Not A Single Doubt had four previous wins on the Awapuni and Riccarton Synthetic tracks and Gordon had trekked to the southern venue last start, but found Doubtful Sound was just a run short of hitting top form.
Closer to her Foxton base on Sunday, Doubtful Sound was primed for the Hygain Tracktorque (1400m) and was on the front foot from the outset, gliding to the lead under Kavish Chowdhoory and setting a solid tempo along the back straight.
Chowdhoory dialled up the pressure turning for home and shot away from the field on straightening, putting a 4-1/4 length margin on race-favourite Gohugo (NZ) (Per Incanto) at the post.
Gordon was rapt with the performance from a horse she also part-owns.
“He’s led in a couple of his wins, he’s pretty adaptable but he does enjoy rolling along in front,” she said. “It was a really nice win.
“I did think he would go well down south, but being that year older, he probably just needed that extra run. He ran in the $100,000 (innovation) race last year but didn’t have much luck that day.”
Doubtful Sound was bred by Gerry Harvey and initially purchased for $300,000 at the Gold Coast Magic Millions Yearling Sale before later being sold through gavelhouse.com for $4,701. In 38 starts, the six-year-old has won just shy of $120,000 with six wins to his credit.
The online auction platform was also where Gordon discovered Ka Ying Lucky (Zoustar), an impressive winner of the Lisa Latta Racing (1000m) earlier on the card.
Ka Ying Lucky was another stable member who journeyed to Riccarton earlier in May and finished third in his respective assignment, a performance warranting favouritism in Sunday’s contest. In the hands of Bruno Queiroz, the gelding travelled comfortably in behind the speed and was poised to pounce rounding the turn, running down a game Bodacious Kate (NZ) (Derryn) just short of the post to score by three quarters of a length.
“It was a beautiful ride and he’s a horse that has got ability, it’s just getting it out of him at times,” Gordon said.
“He can go on a slow track on the grass, whereas the other horse (Doubtful Sound) is definitely a synthetic horse and enjoys that surface a lot more than the turf.” A six-year-old by Zoustar, Ka Ying Lucky has won three and placed in a further seven races from 27 attempts. He broke maidens in the care of Ben and Ryan Foote, before being purchased for $10,500 by Gordon and the remainder of his ownership group.