Saturday’s ITM/Gib Sprinters’ Winter Championship Final (1400m) at Ruakaka will give Turn The Ace an opportunity to complete a double that has not previously been achieved in the midwinter fixture.
This will be the third edition of the ITM/Gib Winter Championships, which were introduced in 2022 with $60,000 finals for two-year-olds, three-year-olds, progressive horses (one win at nomination time), sprinters and stayers. No horse has yet scored two wins in those $60,000 finals.
Turn The Ace played a starring role on the inaugural Finals Day in 2022, kicking away in the straight for an impressive victory in the 3YO Final (1600m). He bypassed last year’s Finals in favour of two July appearances at Te Rapa, where he won the J F Grylls Memorial Classic (1400m) and the Bob & Colleen Donaldson Memorial (1400m).
The five-year-old has found a rich vein of form again this winter, starting with a three-length win at Te Rapa in early May and a close third at the same venue two weeks later. Turn The Ace finished sixth in the Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m) at Wanganui at the beginning of June, then returned to Te Rapa for a win on June 15 and a third in last Saturday’s UBP Te Awamutu Cup (1600m).
“He just got niggled at a little bit in front last week and didn’t get things his own way,” trainer Andrew Forsman said. “A mile on quite a testing track is probably around his limit as well. We’re dropping him back down to 1400m on Saturday on a much drier track, so it’s going to be quite a different task for him, but hopefully he’ll perform well.”
The one-week turnaround holds no fears for the Turn Me Loose gelding. He won the Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre Stakes (1100m) seven days after his debut as a two-year-old, and one of his victories at Te Rapa in July of last year was also on a one-week back-up.
“He’s proven before that he can handle a quick back-up, so I don’t have any concerns about doing that with him this week,” Forsman said. “And he was a good winner in his only previous run at Ruakaka, albeit just against his own age-group in the 3YO Final a couple of years ago.”
Apprentice jockey Sima Mxothwa will claim 4kg to reduce Turn The Ace’s impost to 57.5kg. The TAB rates him a $3.90 second favourite behind Malt Time ($2.50).
Forsman reported that last-start winner Pacifico is an unlikely starter in Saturday’s ITM/Gib 3YO Winter Championship Final (1600m). However, the Cambridge trainer will have undercard representation with promising filly Foreign Affairs resuming in the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series (1200m).
The three-year-old daughter of Turn Me Loose made a big impression with a smart maiden win at Te Rapa on January 31. She finished eighth at the same venue 10 days later in her only subsequent appearance.
“She’s a nice filly,” Forsman said. “She just needs better tracks, which is why we’ll kick her off at Ruakaka.
“I probably would have liked to have given her another trial before this, but the Cambridge synthetic trials were called off on Tuesday. So she might be half a run short, and she has an awkward draw to contend with as well (seven in an eight-horse field). But she’s certainly got good ability.”
The same could be said about Sparkles, who left maiden ranks with an emphatic victory in Wednesday’s Cambridge Equine Hospital (1550m) on her home track.
That breakthrough victory came at start number nine for the Embellish filly, who placed in all of her first four starts between November and January before her form tapered off on rain-affected tracks through the autumn.
“It was a very good win and certainly overdue,” Forsman said. “She’s always shown plenty of talent. She was just struggling on some of those deeper tracks, so it was nice to have the option of the Polytrack this week. She was much more comfortable on that and turned her form around nicely.
“She’ll probably go to the next meeting there in two weeks’ time, where we’ll have a couple of options to choose from over the same distance (1550m). There’s a $30,000 special conditions race and also a Rating 65 (for $17,000).”