Hi Yo Sass Bomb has become a horse of a lifetime for New Plymouth trainer Kim Reid, and she is hoping to further her dream ride with her pride and joy at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The daughter of Complacent fulfilled her long-held stakes potential at Trentham earlier this month when taking out the Gr.3 Cuddle Stakes (1600m), giving Reid the green light to press on for her first tilt at elite-level this weekend in the Gr.1 NZEA New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m).
“I have always believed in that horse, she is just so tough and gutsy,” Reid said.
“I said to myself that if she came out and won the Cuddle then I would consider it (New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’). I think she will be better over a bit more ground, but she is strong at the mile as well.
“I think she deserves to be there and I think she has stepped up a notch since her run in the Cuddle. It is all looking good.
“She is very consistent and I have always felt there was something special about her. I don’t think we have seen the best of her yet.”
While Reid believes the race’s traditional home of Te Aroha would have suited her mare more, she is looking forward to heading to Ellerslie for the first time and experiencing their new StrathAyr track firsthand.
“It will be interesting,” she said. “I did think Te Aroha could suit her with the track being a bit heavier and the 500m straight, but I am looking forward to going to Ellerslie and I was excited to see our one draw.”
Reid has been involved with Hi Yo Sass Bomb’s family for a number of generations and she is getting plenty of satisfaction in seeing her belief in the lineage come to fruition.
“My mum went up with a good friend and purchased her (Hi Yo Sass Bomb) granddam, Hi Yo Wassup, at the sales 20-odd years ago. She was quite a handy mare herself and she won five,” Reid said.
“Mum bred from her, and Sass Bomb is out of Hi Yo Soo, one of the daughters of Hi Yo Wassup. The breeding has been there for a while and we thought something special might come out of it one day and it’s really nice to see that happen.
“There are two (good) mares that came out of that line – Sass was one of those and the other is Hi Yo Coco, who is by Shocking out of Hi Yo Wassup. I am planning to breed from her, we tried this year going to Derryn, but she missed.
“It is nice when you know the horses, you get a bit of an affinity, and there’s something that you see in them. Coco (the shocking mare) had it, she had a twinkle in her eye, and I think Sass has always had it too. There is something extra special about them and you have that bond as well.”
Reid has been involved in all stages of Hi Yo Sass Bomb’s education and training, and said her mare certainly lives up to her name.
“I broke Sass in and we had her right from the start. She was quite sassy to break in,” she said. “She has got a real personality, she is very expressive and she tells you. She gets impatient and she likes her routine, and she lets you know when she is not happy. I love it, I think she is a neat horse.”
While Hi Yo Sass Bomb has increased her residual value as a broodmare with her last start heroics, Reid said she is keen to retain her mare and continue breeding from the family.
“We have sold the mother (Hi Yo Soo), so we will definitely be keeping her, she is a bit of a family pet as well,” Reid said.
While Reid is looking forward to breeding from Hi Yo Sass Bomb, she is hoping that isn’t for a few more years yet and she is excited to try to add to her burgeoning record in the coming months.
“I just take it race-by-race with her,” she said. “I give her breaks all the way through and she does some water-walking through her breaks.
“If she is still well and happy I might continue onto the Travis Stakes (Gr.2, 2000m) at the end of April. I would like to see her over that distance. She has only had the one trip over that ground, but nothing went right that day. She lost a shoe and she had no time in the birdcage and was really wound up, so we didn’t really get to see how she would handle it. But I do think she will like that distance.”