Up-and-coming Cambridge trainer Sam Mynott will have her first taste of black-type racing when she saddles stable star Imwonderfultonight in Saturday’s Listed Donaldson Brown Pegasus Stakes (1000m) at Riccarton.
Mynott took out her trainer’s licence last season and has quickly racked up six winners from only 37 starters, including three from nine so far in 2023-24. The versatile 26-year-old has also had success as a jumps jockey this season, winning a steeplechase at Rotorua in August.
The undoubted headline act in Mynott’s boutique stable has been Imwonderfultonight, who she trains for Windsor Park Stud and Ben Kwok.
The daughter of I Am Invincible was bought for A$450,000 as a yearling in Australia, and she began her career with placings at Moonee Valley and Ballarat.
Imwonderfultonight has since relocated across the Tasman and is unbeaten in two New Zealand appearances. She won first-up at Hastings in late May, beating talented rival Fancy Like Lass by a short head with more than six lengths back to the rest of the field.
Imwonderfultonight’s only start since then was at Te Rapa on October 21, where she bounded away from subsequent winners Screamin Eagle and Doddle to win by four and a half lengths.
“It’s so exciting to have the opportunity to have my first runner in a black-type race this weekend,” Mynott said. “It’s a huge privilege to have a horse like this in the stable, and I can’t wait for Saturday.
“She’s been super impressive in winning those two races – especially that last one at Te Rapa. Obviously it’s a very big step up tomorrow, going straight from Rating 65 up to open class, but I think she can be competitive.”
Imwonderfultonight will carry the 53kg minimum weight and will be ridden by Michael McNab. The TAB currently rates her a $2.50 favourite.
“It’s a race that we’ve been pointing her towards for quite a while – we had a chat about it a few months ago,” Mynott said.
"We probably planned to give her a couple of runs before it to try to get her rating up a little bit, but we were held up by the way the weather was earlier in the spring. So we’re going straight into it off just the one run.
“She’s come through that Te Rapa race in perfect order and has only improved since then, so I’m looking forward to seeing what she can do at Riccarton.”
All going well, Mynott will consider backing the five-year-old up for next Saturday’s $140,000 Listed Lindauer Stewards’ Stakes (1200m).
“As long as she comes through this race well, that’s something we’ll be pretty keen to think about,” Mynott said. “We’ve put in the nomination, so we can see what happens on Saturday and then make up our minds after that.”