The step up in class for Friday’s KB Contractors Open (1400m) at Wingatui held no fears for improving mare Albatross, who extended her winning sequence to three with another stylish performance.
Albatross began her six-year-old season with a total of four wins to her name from 23 starts, earning just over $50,000 in stakes. She has improved that record sharply this spring and has now won seven times in a 29-race career, banking $99,775 for her group of owners.
The Kelvin Tyler-trained mare kicked off her winning treble with a 1600m Rating 75 victory at Wingatui on September 8, scoring by a long neck and a half-head in a tight three-way finish. Albatross lined up in a Rating 79 handicap over the same distance at Oamaru two weeks later and won again, this time by three-quarters of a length. Friday’s open handicap was her toughest test yet, but Albatross scored her third win in succession with the most impressive performance of the three.
Ridden by in-form apprentice Denby-Rose Tait, Albatross settled in fourth as Street Fightin Man and Fiery Red went to war in a red-hot early speed duel that carried them six lengths clear of the pack. The field bunched up coming up to the turn, and Albatross was poised to pounce as she straightened for home.
Tait asked her mount to quicken in the straight and Albatross responded, surging to the lead more than 200m from the finish and going on to win by a length over Jimmy Five and Epee Beel.
“She’s really flying at the moment and it was another good win today,” Tyler said. “She’s a happy horse, there’s a bit of moisture in the ground that’s really suiting her, and she’s put together a few really good performances in a row.”
However, despite the mare’s upward trajectory, Tyler will resist the temptation of the prize-money on offer during next month’s New Zealand Cup Carnival at Riccarton.
“The tracks will probably be too firm for her up there, I don’t think she’d handle that at all,” Tyler said. “So we’ll just stick down south with her and hopefully find a few more suitable races on tracks like today (Soft7).”
Albatross provided a second winner on Friday’s card for Tait, who now tops the New Zealand apprentice jockeys’ premiership with 14 wins this season.
Albatross was bred by Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Maktoum and is by Sacred Falls out of the Encosta De Lago mare Bint Piavonic, who is a full-sister to the Gr.1 Golden Slipper (1200m) runner-up and sire Von Costa De Hero.
Part-owner Geoff Roan bought Albatross for $12,000 when she was offered on Gavelhouse.com as a weanling in 2019. She was later passed in during Book 2 of Karaka 2020, where she was offered with a reserve of $8,000. Roan retained her to race alongside a syndicate of friends.
Albatross began her career in Jamie Richards’ Matamata stable, winning on debut at Hastings in February of 2022. She relocated south to Tyler’s stable later that year after being unplaced in three subsequent North Island runs.