KIWI CONNECTIONS

The Chosen One is the sole true-blue Kiwi contender for Saturday’s A$5 million Caulfield Cup but there are several other runners with New Zealand connections.

The Chosen One is the only New Zealand-bred runner who is also owned and trained in New Zealand. The Savabeel entire is trained at Cambridge by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman and was bred by the Southland siblings Tony, Ray, Joe and Martin Dennis, who put together a syndicate of family and friends to race the horse.

There is a strong South Island link to The Chosen One as he will be ridden by expat New Zealand rider Daniel Stackhouse, who began his riding career in Canterbury.

The Chosen One will be at long odds this weekend but is a quality handicapper at his best. He won over 1700m at Flemington when resuming last month and though unplaced at his two starts since, he was trapped three-wide at his last run.

He will also race in blinkers, for the first time in his current campaign, on Saturday.

 The other New Zealand-bred Caulfield Cup contenders are Verry Elleegant (by Zed) and Toffee Tongue (Tavistock), while Oceanex (Ocean Park) is on the ballot but unlikely to get a run.

Those who are part-owned in New Zealand include Verry Elleegant, Dashing Willoughby and Chapada.

Expat Kiwi trainers Chris Waller (Verry Elleegant, Finche and Toffee Tongue), Mike Moroney (Chapada) and Trent Busuttin and Natalie Young (Mirage Dancer) have runners and expat jockeys Michael Walker (Dashing Willoughby) Mick Dee (Toffee Tongue) and Stackhouse will ride in the race.

Dashing Willoughby is trained in England, but New Zealand owner Sir Owen Glenn bought a majority share in the horse in July, with the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in mind. Glenn has had a Caulfield Cup placing with Monaco Consul and Melbourne Cup placings with Second Coming and Criterion.

ANTHONY VAN DYCK

Matamata trainers Ken and Bev Kelso are likely to show a keen interest in the 2019 Epsom Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck in the lead up to the Caulfield Cup.

Anthony Van Dyck is trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien and was the clear Caulfield Cup favourite till drawing wide.

He is a Galileo half-brother to Bounding, who won the 2014 Railway Stakes at Ellerslie from the Kelso stable and was voted champion New Zealand sprinter in the 2013-14 season.

Bounding, a Lonhro mare, never finished further back than second in 10 starts in New Zealand and had five wins and two seconds from seven starts as a three-year-old. She won three other Group races that term and was unlucky not to win the One Thousand Guineas.

Bounding also proved her worth in Australia, where she was the runner-up in three Group races from the Kelso stable and won a Group III race at Caulfield when trained by Paul Snowden.

Bounding was a profitable investment for Kiwi owner Gary Harding, who paid A$425,000 for the filly as a yearling. Bounding earned more than $700,000 on the track and then made A$1.9 million at the Magic Millions broodmare sale.

She was bought by Stonestreet Farm, in Kentucky, which has also done well from the mare. Bounding’s first foal, a colt by Curlin, made US$4.1 million at the Keeneland September yearling sale last year. He was the highest-priced yearling sold at Keeneland since 2010.

Anthony Van Dyck, who will be the first Epsom Derby winner to race in Australia, does not have any easy task under 58.5kg this weekend, but will be in the finish if he can reproduce his best.

He has already raced in four countries and made two trips to North America, so is an experienced traveller.

The English Derby has been his sole win at Group I level but he has had six other Group I placings and two of his unplaced runs at that level were on soft tracks.

He beat the outstanding English stayer Stradivarius in the Group II Prix Foy (2400m) at Longchamp at his last start, in his first run for three months. Two starts earlier he was runner-up to Ghaiyyath - currently the world’s highest-ranked galloper- in the Group I Coronation Cup (2400m), with Stradivarius third

CHRIS WALLER

Chris Waller doesn’t have many gaps in his training record but neither the Caulfield Cup nor the Melbourne Cup are among his tally of 3000 plus wins, including 114 at Group I level.

Waller, who began his training career in Foxton and is now the dominant trainer Sydney, has had 20 Caulfield Cup runners but has yet to finish closer than fifth.

However, he appears to have three genuine chances this weekend, with Verry Elleegant, Finche and Toffee Tongue.

Verry Elleegant has always been prominent in the betting market and has won twice at 2400m. She has plenty of weight for a mare but it would be out of character if she ran poorly.

She has improved with age and experience and has thrived since joining Waller’s stable.  Verry Elleegant made her debut for Waller in February 2019 and 16 starts for the stable have produced seven wins and seven placings.

The five-year-old has been a Group I winner on good ground but excels on soft or heavy tracks and showers are forecast for Melbourne this weekend.

Toffee Tongue was a maiden till she won the Australasian Oaks (2000m) in Adelaide in May and one-win horses are not normally considered Caulfield Cup prospects.

However, the Tavistock mare has twice been runner-up in Group I company and has not finished further back than second in her three middle-distance runs. She produced an encouraging run when a close second behind Verry Elleegant in the Group I Turnbull Stakes at her last start and meets her stablemate 3kg better off at the weights this week.

 Just three mares – Jameka (2016), Southern Speed (2011) and Ethereal (2001) - have won the Caulfield Cup in the past 20 years but they were all successful as four-year-olds.

Finche, who began his race career in France, has had just one win from nine starts in Australia but has rarely run badly. He was fifth in the 2019 Caulfield Cup, has run fourth and seventh in the Melbourne Cup and was a close third in the Turnbull Stakes at his last start.

Finche races in the colours of Saudi owner Khalid Abdulla, which are among the best-known racing colours in the world. They have been carried by a host of outstanding horses among them Frankel, Enable, Dancing Brave, Arrogate and Danehill, as well as three Epsom Derby winners.

Khalid Abdullah has retained a 25 per cent share in Finche and the other shareholders including Peter Tighe, who was a part-owner of Winx and Neil Werrett who was a part-owner of Black Caviar.

DANIEL STACKHOUSE

Former Kiwi rider Daniel Stackhouse is having the best run of his career – at the age of 30.

Stackhouse, who will partner Cambridge galloper The Chosen One in Saturday’s Caulfield Cup, has been based in Victoria since May 2011.

He was the busiest rider in Australia last term, with 1134 rides, and was rewarded by finishing runner-up in the Victorian premiership, with 138 wins. But 120 of those wins came at non-metropolitan meetings and he had just two Group I mounts last season.

However, his good results and strong work ethic have led to greater opportunities in the new season. He has already had eight Group I rides this spring and the two biggest wins of his career have come in the past three weeks.

He partnered Chapada to win the A$300,000 Herbert Power Handicap at Caulfield last weekend – his first Group II win - and a fortnight earlier won the A$250,000 Group III Guineas Prelude on Crosshaven.

Stackhouse rode Crosshaven again when the horse ran fourth in last weekend’s A$2 million Caulfield Guineas and also had Group I mounts in the Thousand Guineas and Toorak Handicap.

He has continued to ride regularly at provincial meetings and on Wednesday completed a run of seven meetings in as many days, at Mornington, Cranbourne (two), Caulfield (two), Echuca and Kyneton.

He will warm up for Caulfield Cup day with seven rides at Pakenham on Friday and will have three black-type mounts on Saturday.

Stackhouse got down to 54kg to ride Chapada last weekend – a win that gained Chapada a Caulfield Cup start – and will ride The Chosen One at 53.5kg, the lightest he has ridden on race day for some time.

Stackhouse might have preferred to ride Chapada – who is at much shorter odds than The Chosen One – this weekend but had no chance of making Chapada’s weight of 50.5kg.

Weight was often a problem for Stackhouse while an apprentice in New Zealand and he took a 12-month break from riding at one stage. He also resorted to riding over fences and his major win in NZ has been the 2010 Hawke’s Bay Steeplechase on Yourtheman.

However, he was able to get his weight down again and was the leading South Island rider in the 2010-11 season, heading off Chris Johnson.

Stackhouse began his apprenticeship in Ashburton, with Ricky Donnelly, and after showing early promise, transferred to Te Akau trainer Mark Walker but weight problems restricted his opportunities in the North Island.

He then took a break but returned to race riding with Pam Gerard at Ashburton.

He outrode his claim in New Zealand and was offered a position in Melbourne, with Peter Moody, as he could still claim in metropolitan races in Australia. He completed his apprenticeship with Moody but struggled for metropolitan rides when he came out of his time.

However, his career tally of wins is now near 900, including more than 100 for Moody, and he is making the best of the new opportunities, including regular mounts for the Dabernig-Hayes stable and Mike Moroney.