All of Republican Party’s star qualities were on show when he brilliantly won the Ian Dobson Classic at Addington on Friday night.
The Cran and Chrissie Dalgety trained three-year-old completed a hat-trick of wins when fighting off the home straight challenge of fellow star Akuta to win his final outing before the Group One New Zealand Derby.
Republican Party was caught wide and in midfield early before driver Blair Orange elected to take the three-year-old to the lead.
That meant the horse displayed his tactical speed, top-end speed as well as his grit and determination to win after being headed by Akuta in the run home.
Those qualities are exactly the qualities needed to win a New Zealand Derby according to Cran, who has two Derby trophies on the mantlepiece at home.
“We didn’t quite know where he was going to settle in the running going into it, the only thing we were certain of was that he would run very well.”
“He’s done that and he’s shown his determination again when Akuta has come up alongside him.”
“He’s not a big horse by any means but when those big boys come up to go past him he just digs in.”
“You can’t teach them that and you can’t buy it out of the sales catalogue.”
“He’s got a big heart and we can certainly be proud of him again.”
The Kentuckiana Lodge team will now aim to keep Republican Party in a happy space leading into the Group One New Zealand Derby on Sunday.
“He is fit and well and in a really great place, so our job is to keep him in that space.”
“He will go through his usual routine as he recovers from this run before having some pre-race work leading into Sunday.”
“It will sound silly because he has had a busy month or so, but he just keeps thriving off the racing.”
“He has pulled up great after the race and we really just can’t wait for the derby to be honest.”
Rakanotta rounded out a great weekend for Kentuckiana when she ran to a front-running victory at Addington on Sunday.
Carter Dalgety took the big striding mare to the front and she simply kept on running.
“She’s from a great old breed that Brendan Fahy has had a lot of success with,” Cran said.
“When she gets near the pace she is very tough to get past and that proved to be the case today.”
“Her runs on Show Day and at Kaikoura were very good and she deserved this win.”
The victory completed a double on Sunday for Carter who drove Kikorangi Blue to win for Bob Butt.
