A week after missing out on a black-type opportunity at Awapuni, Cannon Hill (NZ) (Ardrossan) eased his connections’ disappointment with victory in the Prezzy Card Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.
Cannon Hill was entered for the ANZAC Mile (1600m) on last Friday’s card at Awapuni, which was abandoned after one race. That Listed feature was rescheduled for Wanganui two days later, but many of the northern raiders were withdrawn.
That led to New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing increasing the stake of Saturday’s Prezzy Card Mile at Te Rapa to $60,000. In the end it was Cannon Hill who took the lion’s share of that consolation prize.
Premiership-leading jockey Craig Grylls took up a handy position in fourth, then brought Cannon Hill out to the middle of the track to make his run.
Front-runner Knights Realm (NZ) (Castledale) still had plenty up his sleeve and fought hard all the way down the straight, but Cannon Hill would not be denied. He edged out Knights Realm by a nose in a desperately tight finish. Hasstobeawinner (NZ) (Vadamos), Mosinvader (NZ) (Vadamos), Little Bit Of Love (NZ) (Time Test) and Channel Surfer (NZ) (Derryn) finished another long neck, neck, long neck and neck away respectively.
“He’s got a nice consolation prize after missing that Listed race last week,” Grylls said. “I wasn’t supposed to ride him that day, but I ended up picking up the mount when Matt Cartwright got suspended. The Tony Pike stable was pretty bullish coming into today, and they’ve got it right.
“He jumped and put himself in a good spot. We managed to get out to the middle of the track, and then he was really tough and fought them off the whole way down the straight.”
Cannon Hill was a $150,000 purchase by Pike Racing from Book 1 of Karaka 2022. The four-year-old son of Ardrossan has earned $166,325 from a 15-start career that has produced four wins and four placings.
His Te Rapa victory capped a successful day for Pike, who was in Christchurch to saddle the Listed Berkley Stud Champagne Stakes (1200m) winner Lucy In The Sky (NZ) (Hello Youmzain).
The Cambridge trainer was represented at Te Rapa by Chris McNab.
“The stable has had a pretty good hour or so,” McNab said. “With our first two runners here at Te Rapa today, it was like quicksand down on the inside. So the key with Cannon Hill was to get him to the outside. That was the winning of the race. I know it was still close at the finish, but he was in the right part of the track and that was a real advantage. “He’s coming through the grades very well and is going to be a good horse next year, and maybe even better as a six-year-old.”