Sunday’s Elsdon Park (1400m) at Pukekohe could be a stepping stone towards much bigger and better things for unbeaten three-year-old Dealt With.
The Ace High gelding turned heads with a dominant debut victory at Te Aroha on January 4, and that performance did not go unnoticed in terms of fixed-odds markets for upcoming three-year-old features.
The TAB currently rates him a $16 chance for next Saturday’s $1.5 million TAB Karaka Millions 3YO (1600m) at Ellerslie, with a $21 quote available for the inaugural $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) slot race at the same venue on March 8.
“There’s a couple of big three-year-old races coming up that we’d love to see him running in, and the first of those is the Karaka Millions,” said Robert Wellwood, who trains in partnership with Roger James.
“That’s only six days after this race at Pukekohe on Sunday, so it’s a bit ‘pie in the sky’ at this stage. We’re keeping the option open, but absolutely everything would have to go 100 percent right for us to carry on along that path.
“The other option is to give him another run in between times and then hope to secure him a slot for the Kiwi in March.”
James and Wellwood paid $90,000 to buy Dealt With from the Book 2 draft of Hallmark Stud at Karaka 2023. His highly impressive first-up performance came as no surprise to the Cambridge trainers, who had previously given him two trials including a five-length romp over 800m at Ellerslie back in September.
“We always knew that he was a horse with very good speed and ability,” Wellwood said. “We just had to be a bit patient with him early on, but it was very pleasing to get him to the races at Te Aroha this month and see him produce such an impressive performance on debut.
“His work has been good since then. He’s still got plenty to learn, but we believe he’s taken some good improvement from that first run. It’s going to be interesting to see how he goes in better company on Sunday.”
Dealt With will again be ridden by George Rooke, who guided him to his win at Te Aroha earlier in the month. The pair will meet a talented line-up of three-year-olds on Sunday, including last-start winners Cognoscenti and This Time Girl, Cambridge Stud filly First Dance and last month’s Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m) fourth placegetter Hard Roca, but Dealt With heads the TAB’s market at $3.80.
“We had the option of either the three-year-old race or the Rating 65 at this meeting on Sunday,” Wellwood said. “We were able to accept for both, see how he drew and use that as the decider, and that’s definitely pushed us towards the three-year-old race.”
Dealt With will be one of two runners at Pukekohe on Sunday for James and Wellwood. They will also saddle Aladdin Sane in the Auckland Co-Op Taxis (2200m) – something of a Plan B after missing out on a $350,000 opportunity at Trentham.
“We entered him for the Remutaka Classic (2100m) on Saturday as well, but unfortunately he’s fourth on the ballot there and very unlikely to get a run,” Wellwood said. “It would have been nice to see him race for $325,000 more, but that’s the way it goes.”
Aladdin Sane began his four-year-old season in good form with two seconds and then a win at Pukekohe, beating subsequent Trentham winner and Remutaka Classic contender Sinhaman. He pulled up slightly sore after losing a plate during a 2100m Rating 75 at Tauranga in December, where he was a beaten favourite and finished seventh, but showed more promising signs with a strong finish for sixth in the Thames Cup (1600m) on January 4.
“I thought that was a very good run,” Wellwood said. “It was the run of a horse that needs to get back up over ground. He gets that opportunity on Sunday and we’re expecting a good run.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
