A return to a proven buying formula may once again deliver the ultimate reward for Albert Bosma’s Go Racing syndication company.
He will bid to roll back the years with trainer Stephen Marsh with Velocious in the TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie on Saturday after they combined to win the juvenile feature with Ruud Awakening in 2013.
Written Tycoon filly Velocious is the current $3 favourite after her debut victory at Te Rapa followed by success in the Listed Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Counties, and she finished a last-start third in the Gr.3 Eclipse Stakes (1200m).
The precocious youngster will also have premier rider James McDonald to guide her fortunes from gate seven.
“Its quite funny really, Ruud Awakening drew the same barrier so here’s hoping,” Bosma said.
“Velocious has ticked every box coming through, peaking at the right time and we’re happy with the draw.
“After she won the stakes race, we gave her a little freshen-up and she went into the Eclipse with quite a bit left in the tank, improvement wise, still to come.
“We’ve got the right jockey, arguably the world’s best, so we haven’t got anything to complain about.”
With more recent stakes money increases, particularly in age group racing, Bosma and his team made a conscious decision to change their buying tack at Karaka and Velocious is a result of that.
“In the last few years, we have been very much focussing on the Australian middle distance racing and we’ve had a lot of success with that,” Bosma said.
“We haven’t bought a horse for the Karaka Million in probably seven years because that wasn’t our model.
“It was only last year when we could see changes coming and looked in our crystal ball and said we needed to buy a couple of horses to try and get to the Karaka Millions.
“We came up with Velocious and we had another one trial midweek, Pinky Pie, that we think is pretty smart. She hasn’t got to the race, but we’ve got one in and it’s the favourite.”
Velocious was purchased out of breeder Inglewood Stud’s draft last year at Karaka for $190,000.
“We really liked her, she’s a gorgeous filly and she was a touch long and that might have been why some people looked at her and thought she might not make a two-year-old,” Bosma said.
“She’s by Written Tycoon, a source of speed, out of a Snitzel mare that won a couple in Australia and a key to her was that she’s got a half-sister called Mozzarella.
“She had terrible legs and Inglewood Stud retained her, but she managed to win a couple of races in the spring as a two-year-old, so that said to us that this is a two-year-old family and one of the reasons we bought her.”
Bosma and associate Matt Allnutt are this week casting their eyes over future prospects ahead of the 2024 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale.
“We will be looking for some fast horses for the Karaka Millions and the new races and buying middle distance horses for Australia as well, we’ll be buying for both markets.”
Among Go Racing’s Australian success stories has been Skyman, who won four times at Listed level and earned more than A$1 million during his time with Chris Waller.
He is now in Marsh’s care to target the inaugural summer series, which offers bonus purses of $650,000 with the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes (2000m) and the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m) on Skyman’s program.
He finished fifth in his New Zealand debut under expatriate Kiwi jockey Daniel Stackhouse in the series opener, the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) at Trentham last weekend.
“The track deteriorated and that didn’t suit him, Daniel said he would have been right in it otherwise,” Bosma said.
“He has come through the race well and it was his first run for a couple of months, so he has improved and will go to the Herbie Dyke.”