Tuxedo (NZ) (Tivaci) held his own against the best of his generation as a three-year-old last season, and a spectacular first-up performance at Ruakaka on Saturday suggested that he might be about to make the next step at four.
The Tivaci gelding outclassed his opposition in the Hello Youmzain-Champion NZ First Season Sire (1400m) to set up a shot at the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie on September 6.
Saturday’s $40,000 open handicap was only the seventh start of Tuxedo’s career. Cambridge trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray lined him up six times last season for three wins including the Gr.2 Waikato Guineas (2000m) and Gr.3 Wellington Stakes (1600m). He also ran second behind Damask Rose (NZ) (Savabeel) in the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) and recorded another second placing at Ellerslie behind Willydoit (NZ) (Tarzino). His final start of the season was a seventh in Willydoit’s Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) in March.
Four months later, a bigger, stronger and better Tuxedo announced his return to racing. After settling at the tail of the six-horse field through the first 600m of the race, Michael McNab allowed the $1.30 favourite to slide forward around the outside of the field.
He trucked through in the slipstream of Sagunto (NZ) (O’Reilly) coming up to the turn, and then McNab released the brakes. Tuxedo burst to the lead with 250m to run, powering clear by three and a half lengths despite racing greenly down the straight.
“He just cruised around at the back of the field early, and then I was able to tack on to the back of Sagunto and he flowed into the race beautifully,” McNab said. “He’s an exciting horse for his owners. His three-year-old form was really good against horses like Damask Rose and Willydoit, and he seems to have progressed enough from that to go on with it this season.”
Tuxedo was a $70,000 purchase from Book 1 of Karaka 2023. His seven-start career has produced four wins, two seconds and $496,285 in stakes.
The TAB now rates Tuxedo an $8 chance for the Proisir Plate, sharing third favouritism with Tomodachi (NZ) (Tarzino). Legarto (NZ) (Proisir) and the defending champion Grail Seeker (NZ) (Iffraaj) are the $4 equal favourites for the first Group One race of the New Zealand season.
“We needed Tuxedo to make a statement today if we wanted to be competitive in Group One weight-for-age company in three weeks’ time,” Ritchie said. “It’s not ideal when you’re first-up on a bit of a wet track, but this will stand him in great stead for the Proisir Plate now.
“He’s still got a bit to learn, he’s obviously mucked around a bit when he got to the front, but that was an impressive performance.
“He put a significant amount of weight on during that spell. After the Derby, he had a good eight weeks in the paddock. We brought him in and gave him a long build-up, knowing we wanted to give him a run in preparation for the Proisir Plate, just to try to get a little bit of a fitness edge on the likes of Grail Seeker and the other top-class horses that have been there and done that before.
“It’s never easy for a four-year-old at weight-for-age, and we’re well aware of that, so hopefully this just gives us that run, that little edge that we may need to be competitive in that race.”
Local mare Illicit Dreams (NZ) (Vancouver) crossed the line in second place on Saturday, with 62kg topweight Habana (Zoustar) producing an eye-catching effort for third.
