gavelhouse graduate Griffin , a full brother to Gingernuts, produced a promising fresh up performance at Taupo on Sunday, much to the delight of the Te Akau Slam Dunk Syndicate.
The win was Griffin's second
victory in what was his 10th start with the now four-year-old having
been off the scene since February 2018 due to injury.
Currently leading the New Zealand Premiership with 54 winners and an enviable 4.39 strike-rate trainer Jamie Richards commented "He injured a hind fetlock and just needed a bit of time. He's got a lovely team of owners and hopefully he can kick on from here."
"It was a nice win for the owners. He's a full brother to one of our favourite horses Gingernuts so he's always had a following. I bought him on gavelhouse.com and Karyn [Fenton-Ellis] syndicated him. He's had a few issues but it looks like he's over them now and we could see him winning a few races this campaign," Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis noted yesterday on the stable's website.
Advertised in August 2016 on gavelhouse.com as a broken-in yet untried two-year-old and with the knowledge that his full-brother Gingernuts was a talented individual with a win and a second as a May two-year-old for the stable, Richards inspected Griffin at Chris Thompson's Taranaki property. The stable subsequently bid to $90,000 to secure him with Thompson retaining a share in the son of Iffraaj.
Thompson's mare Double Elle has been one of the great breeding and sales stories in recent times, having purchased her in foal to Iffraaj (the resulting foal Griffin) from Gingernut's breeder William Fell of Goodwood Stud for just $3,000 at New Zealand Bloodstock's May Sale.
Thompson has since also sold Griffin's yearling half-sister by Jakkalberry on the site in March 2018 last year, fetching $89,000.
The next gavelhouse.com New Zealand auction is set to go live on Tuesday 1 January and will close from 7pm on Monday 7 January. Entries for the next gavelhouse.com Australia auction are due on Monday 7 January by 7pm AEDT. For information on using gavelhouse.com call NZ +61 9 296 4436 or AU +613 9614 4882
