Emerging staying star Nest Egg tightened his hold on favouritism for next weekend’s Gr.3 New Zealand Cup (3200m) with a perfect dress rehearsal on the opening day of the carnival at Riccarton on Saturday.
The Stephen Marsh-trained gelding arrived in the South Island as a $6 favourite for the New Zealand Cup next Saturday, and his impressive final lead-up in the Listed Nautical Boat Insurance Metropolitan Trophy (2600m) has slashed that quote to $3.50.
Nest Egg was a black-type placegetter in the Listed Champagne Stakes (1600m) as an autumn two-year-old, then ran a creditable sixth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) the following year.
The son of Reliable Man continued to make good progress as a four-year-old last season with a number of promising staying performances, including a close fourth behind Aquacade in the Dunstan Feeds Stayers’ Championship Final (2400m) on New Year’s Day.
A dominant last-start win by three and a half lengths over 2400m at Te Rapa on October 21 hinted that this might be the year that Nest Egg really makes his mark among New Zealand’s staying ranks, and on Saturday he delivered.
The Metropolitan was run at a fluctuating tempo, with plenty of speed on in the early stages before it slackened and then picked up again down the back and far side of the expansive Riccarton course.
Through all of this, Nest Egg and jockey Warren Kennedy settled into a smooth rhythm in seventh along the rail, biding their time until the business end of the race.
Nest Egg began to work through his gears after rounding the home turn, but found himself with nowhere to go for the first half of the home straight. Kennedy spotted a narrow gap one off the rail, switched his mount back towards the inside and drove him through it. Nest Egg quickened sharply and burst through, taking command through the final 100m and scoring by a long neck from Oso Savvy and Aljay.
“We’d planned to give him an economical run, since he’s racing again in a week’s time,” Kennedy said. “I was able to get him into a good position on the fence, a really quiet ride, and then he tracked up behind them and just had to wait for a gap. When the gap came, I put him through and he won the race still extending. It was a really, really good win.”
Bred and part-owned by David Price and Brian Stewart, Nest Egg has now had 30 starts for five wins, six placings and more than $190,000 in stakes.
“I was shaking my head at the 200 today,” Marsh admitted. “I was thinking, ‘Oh, here we go again, another hard-luck story.’ But Warren was patient and found a way through. It was lovely to see.
“The horse jumped well today and put himself in a good spot, and Warren seems to get on well with him. He gets him into a really good rhythm. The horse is such a laid-back customer as well.
“He was great today. He was very strong to the line. He’s probably not one of those sorts of horses that really wants to be held up and to have to dive back to the inside like that, but he did it well today. I think he’s right on track for the Cup and he’s going super.”