Xtravagant wins 2016 Nrm Sprint Group 1 NZ$200,000 at Te Rapa (NZ), 1400m.
Warm favourite Xtravagant bounced best from barrier four and took an early two length lead but relinquished it to Allez Eagle and Trepidation before starting the turn with a thousand to run. Hugging the rails around the turn, jockey Matthew Cameron kept the leaders honest and forced them to race wide while he wasted no ground whatsoever. Just before straightening Cameron’s tactic paid off as the field ran wide. Meanwhile, Xtravagant brushed the fence and by the time he balanced up for the run home had established a handy advantage. Inside the 300m he broke away by three lengths and by the 200m he increased that to five lengths and kept up a strong gallop right to the line to win easily by eight lengths.
Vespa began well but dropped back to be midfield starting the corner. Like the rest of the field he ran very wide and grabbed second at the 200m, ran on well but was simply no match for the winner.
Recite sat in front of Vespa around the corner and made a forward move at the 600m on Xtravagant’s outer but also ran wide just before straightening. She followed Vespa down the straight and finished on quite well to hold third.
