Local stayer Bosch made amends for a luckless performance at Ruakaka a fortnight ago when powering to victory in the Alibaba’s Flying Carpets Stretch & Trim (2100m) on Saturday.
The six-year-old by Pentire is prepared at the course by Michelle Bradley, who witnessed Bosch’s misfortune when held up at a crucial stage of the ITM/GIB Stayer’s Winter Championship Final (2100m) on July 13, eventually running into second behind Fly My Wey.
Both horses lined up two weeks later over the identical trip, where jockey Sam Spratt took luck out of the equation early on Bosch when settling outside of Chevron who set a strong tempo under apprentice Triston Moodley.
Spratt applied pressure to the pacemaker near the 600m with Fly My Wey in pursuit and the trio looked the main chances coming down the home straight, but at the 100m, Bosch found another gear in the soft conditions and kicked away to score by 3 ¼ lengths.
Spratt has become somewhat of a course specialist at Ruakaka over the years riding over 100 winners, and she picked up an early double after dead-heating in the opener aboard I’m All In.
“He (Bosch) ended up winning pretty easily, I wasn’t sure how far in front we were and I was a bit worried they were going to bomb us in the last little bit, but he’s won it well,” Spratt said.
“To be fair, he probably should’ve won last start, he was very unlucky. It would’ve been better with that being a $60,000 race, but hey, it’s good.
“Triston set up a really beautiful pace and starting rolling on the corner, which is perfect for Bosch. It all worked out really well.
“He’s definitely strengthened up a lot this year, so I think he’s going to be a nice horse coming through. The sting out of the track like it was today is right up his alley. “
Bradley indicated she is eyeing a feature target later in the year for Bosch, with the win coming as a tidy starting point.
“I was shaking a little bit, but once he turned the corner and Sam let him go it was game over,” she said.
“I was a little bit worried about Fly My Wey, but he skipped away quite easily and I’m really happy with him. He’s strengthened up, he’s only just turned six and he’s lightly raced.
“I’ve got a goal in mind this year that I’m hoping to get to, a race I’ve been wanting to have a go at and that’s the Counties Cup (Gr.3, 2100m).
“We’ll get through his next couple, have a breather and if we get there, we get there. I know there will be a few horses a bit stronger than today, but we’ll give it a crack.”
Bosch increased his stakes earnings north of $104,500 in stakes for connections, now having recorded three wins and eight minor placings from 20 starts.
Bradley’s team also featured strongly in the following event, the Truweld Engineering (1600m), with stablemates Shockatillatap and Sulabella filling the minors behind impressive winner Tide And Time.