Kentuckiana Lodge colt Republican Party broke a New Zealand record after unleashing a scintillating final 400m to win the Three-Year-Old Champion Stakes at Ashburton on Sunday.
The Cran and Chrissie Dalgety trained pacer set a new national record for 1700m for a three-year-old colt or gelding when cruising to victory in the Three-Year-Old Champion Stakes in a 1.59.9 time for driver Blair Orange.
A sizzling final 400m split of 26.0sec sealed a victory which impressed Cran with Republican Party working at both ends of the race.
“It was a great effort because he did a wee bit of work to get across them and to sprint away like he did was very impressive.”
“We have taken a patient approach with him through the early part of the season and I think the progress he has made showed today.”
Republican Party will be freshened following his victory, with the summer and spring in mind.
“He is a really nice three-year-old and we can look forward to the big three-year-old races in the spring now.”
“It is the perfect time for him to have a break, he can go out on a high and hopefully he comes back bigger and stronger.”
“His last break did him the world of good and today’s win showed he has kept improving.”
“He ran a very respectable race in the Sires Stakes Final in his first test against the big guns last spring.”
“He is a better horse now, so hopefully we can give them a big fright when we take them on again.”
By sending their three-year-old to the paddock, Cran and Chrissie have decided against heading to the Brisbane Winter Carnival.
Instead, they have races like the New Zealand Derby firmly on Republican Party’s radar.
“We have plenty to aim at on our home patch here in Canterbury and when we weighed up all options it made sense to stay home.”
“As most people know we are not scared of packing our bags and heading north or across the ditch.”
“The horse will get plenty of opportunities to do that going forward, but we will hold off for this winter.”
Republican Party is raced by a great crew of owners including Grant Dickey, Alistair & Julie Rooney, Greg & Leigh Ayers, David Schollum, Ken Cummings, Bernard Smith, Gary Merlo, the First Term Syndicate, the A & M Syndicate with Chrissie also sharing in the colt’s ownership.
