Aegon delivered three of last season’s biggest wins for leading jockey Leith Innes, and the unbeaten combination will team up again on Saturday for the first time in 10 months.
Freshly crowned New Zealand’s champion three-year-old of 2020-21, the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman-trained Aegon will have his first New Zealand start since January when he comes up against a quality weight-for-age field in the Gr.1 Rydges Wellington Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham.
Innes has had three raceday rides on the son of Sacred Falls for three superb victories, taking out last season’s Gr.2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas (1400m), Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) and Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m).
Aegon subsequently travelled to Australia, where he won brilliantly first-up in the Gr.2 Hobartville Stakes (1400m) at Rosehill in February. He was unplaced in two subsequent autumn starts and has struck further misfortune this spring – most recently in the A$7.5 million Golden Eagle (1500m) in late October, in which he was never a factor from a wide gate.
“I’m looking forward to being back on him on Saturday for the first time in a fair while,” Innes said. “He’s won every time I’ve ridden him, so hopefully we can stay on that unbeaten track.
“He had a quiet trial at Cambridge last month and I’ve ridden him in his trackwork since then. I’ve been really happy with his work. He seems bright and well and is looking good. It would be great to see him put those last couple of Australian runs behind him and bounce back to his best this weekend.”
Another of Innes’ mounts on Saturday is the Nigel Tiley-trained Midnight Mass in the TAB Bonus Back Blitz Premier (1400m). The three-year-old son of Proisir scored an impressive debut victory at Pukekohe on November 11, charging home from third-last to win by a widening margin of two and a half lengths.
“He was really good that day,” Innes said. “It might not have been an outstanding field, but Nigel just needed to get him started somewhere. He’s got a long float trip ahead of him from Pukekohe to Wellington, but he’s a pretty relaxed horse who seems to take things in his stride. He should be a good chance.
“My other rides on Saturday include Raffle and Passione, who are good enough to be competitive, although they’ve both drawn in the car park.”
Innes is deliberately restricting his books of rides over the next couple of weeks. He missed all of September and October when he was caught up in the Auckland lockdown, and after riding at the special Pukekohe meeting for Auckland-based horses and jockeys on November 11, he relocated to Cambridge to reignite his season.
He has already made a black-type impact aboard Demonetization in last Saturday’s Gr.3 Eagle Technology Stakes (1600m) at Te Aroha.
“I’m limiting my rides at the moment, just looking to ride around five in a day at this stage while I build my fitness back up and get back into everything,” Innes said.
