Travis Stakes Trifecta For Karaka Graduates

The first three horses home in Saturday’s prestigious G2 Travis Stakes at Te Rapa were all graduates of New Zealand Bloodstock sales at Karaka.

The Karaka gold rush was led by Mime (Mastercraftsman), who was also a G2 winner as a three-year-old but until Saturday had endured a season of big-race placings as a four-year-old mare.

This season she has finished second in the G1 Windsor Park Plate (1600m), second in the G2 Westbury Classic (1400m) and third in the G1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m).

In Saturday’s fillies and mares’ feature over 2000m the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Mime sat in sixth place on the rail under a patient ride from Craig Grylls.

A gap appeared one off the fence in the straight and Mime dived through, eventually holding out Endean Rose (Savabeel) and Sofia Rosa (Makfi) in a tight finish.

“I didn’t want to be on the fence, that wasn’t the plan, but I ended up there and she was always travelling very well,” rider Craig Grylls said.

“I had to wait for a gap to open up and then she kicked and won really nicely. She got through the ground well enough, but she wouldn’t want it bottomless.

“She’s been a model of consistency and she’s been duly rewarded.”

Mime has now had 19 starts for five wins, seven seconds and one third, earning $304,725 in prizemoney. A trip to Brisbane for next month’s G1 Doomben Cup is a possibility.

A daughter of the Montjeu mare Maidjeu and from the family of star racehorses Waikiki (Crested Wave) and Sacred Kingdom (Encosta De Lago), Mime was bred by the late Laurence Redshaw.

Mime was offered as a yearling at the 2014 Karaka Select Sale, but she failed to meet her reserve of just $15,000. She was retained by Redshaw until his deteriorating health and passing forced her sale to the China Horse Club.

Runner-up Endean Rose was also a sale-ring passing, falling short of her $3000 reserve as a weanling at the 2011 National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale. She has had 35 starts for six wins, nine placings and $98,360 in prizemoney.

Sofia Rosa was purchased by Bruce Perry Bloodstock for $65,000 at the 2014 Select Sale. She has had 18 starts for five wins, four placings and just over $1 million in prizemoney, headed by a victory in last year’s Group 1 Australian Oaks.