Roger James and Robert Wellwood have spent plenty of time in the three-year-old spotlight in the last couple of seasons, and the Cambridge trainers unveiled another bright prospect in Saturday’s Thames Valley Insurance 3YO (1150m) at Te Aroha.
James and Wellwood’s star performers Prowess and Orchestral have combined to win the last two editions of the Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) and Gr.1 Vinery Stud Stakes (2000m), along with a Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) and a Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2050m). Those are enormous shoes to fill for this season’s crop of age-group talent, but debutant Dealt With has passed his first test in style.
The Ace High gelding went into his first raceday appearance with two trials under his belt, including a five-length win over 800m at Ellerslie in September. He was sent out as a $3 favourite at Te Aroha on Saturday and produced a dominant performance that put him in the picture for bigger assignments later in the summer.
Drawn gate seven in a nine-horse field, Dealt With was caught wide in the early stages of the race and jockey George Rooke had to urge him forward to take the lead and move across to the rail.
Those early exertions might have been expected to take a toll on Dealt With, and he made things even harder for himself by racing greenly and drifting from side to side in the home straight. But despite all that, he pulled away from his outclassed opposition in the final 200m, cruising to a comfortable victory by just over a length.
“All credit to the horse,” James said. “They didn’t give him the lead easily, so he had quite a lot of work to do early, and then he was green in the straight. But when he was by himself in those closing stages of the race, he looked good.
“He’s run a time that not many maidens are running (1:09.37), so that’s probably a fair indication of his ability.
“There’s a lot of improvement there, that’s for certain. He’s a big, powerful horse, but just very raw at this early stage.”
The TAB now rates Dealt With a $21 chance for the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) at Ellerslie on March 8.
“Everyone wants to talk about that race, but we won’t get too carried away just yet,” James said. “We’ll get him home and make a plan around the rest of his campaign.”
Dealt With is by Ace High out of the winning Exceed and Excel mare Scrutiny. His breeders Hallmark Stud offered him in Book 1 of Karaka 2023, where James and Wellwood bought him for $90,000.