Classy youngster Yourdeel gave his rivals a galloping lesson on Saturday when he cleared out over the final stages of the Group III Waikato Stud Slipper (1200m) at Matamata.
The Dundeel two-year-old was having his
first run since dead-heating for third behind stablemates Probabeel and Aotea
Lad in the rich Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie last month.
This time Yourdeel turned the tables on Aotea Lad as he sat nicely in the trail for rider Matt Cameron before being angled into the clear on the point of the home turn. The Jamie Richards-trained youngster quickly dashed away from his rivals before easing down to beat Aotea Lad by a conservative four lengths with pacemaker Moeraki fighting on gamely for third.
Richards was pleased with the final result as he outlined the future plans for his charge.
"His work had been really strong, although I had been a little worried about the track," Richards said.
"He's a pretty exciting horse.
"He has always shown us a little bit of ability but was pretty colty in the spring. As soon as we got that out of the road, he has really turned the corner and turned into a racehorse.
"He's enjoyed a bit of a freshen up so hopefully it is onwards and upwards into the Sistema (Stakes, Gr.1 1200m) from here."
Part-owner Chris Rutten was on hand to witness the victory after outlaying $100,000 to purchase the son of Red Ransom mare Miss Zapper from the Little Avondale Stud draft during the 2018 National Yearling Sale.
"We're really happy with that," Rutten said.
"Jamie was giving us really good reports through the week and said we should expect something this weekend, although you never know.
"I like the look of this horse as he looked like he would go early, and I buy early types.
"Being from Sam Williams' draft (Little Avondale Stud), I brought three from there and they have all been winners."
Rutten was referring to Per Incanto three-year-old Arturo, who won at Wanganui on debut, along with Towkay three-year-old Morpheus who was a winner in Singapore earlier in the month. Both were purchased from the Little Avondale 2017 Select Sale draft for $65,000 and $45,000 respectively.
The victory also brought up a winning treble for Cameron who had earlier scored on the impressive Concert Hall in race two and Maison Roxanne in race three. – NZ Racing Desk
Footnote- Yourdeel is the sixth stakes-winner for exciting young Arrowfield sire Dundeel .
