Te Rapa specialist Turn The Ace (NZ) (Turn Me Loose) kicked off a new preparation with a commanding front-running performance in the Prezzy Card Sprint (1200m) at his favourite track on Saturday.
It was the sixth win from 11 starts at Te Rapa for the Turn Me Loose gelding, whose previous victories included the Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre 2YO Stakes (1100m) at the same meeting three years ago.
That black-type success came second-up – a state in which Turn The Ace often runs his very best races and has an impressive three-from-four winning record.
The five-year-old went into Saturday’s $40,000 race fresh, although he had beaten Group One-winning three-year-old filly Molly Bloom in a stylish trial win at Matamata on April 26.
Turn The Ace was driven forward in the first few strides of Saturday’s race by jockey Michael McNab, and that was where he stayed. He shook free of Winning For All at the top of the straight and was all alone from there, opening up a winning margin of three and half lengths over the strong-finishing Quality Time and Highlighter.
Trainer Andrew Forsman paid $30,000 to buy Turn The Ace from Karaka 2020. His 22-start career has now produced eight wins, three placings and $211,156 in stakes.
“It was another good win today,” Forsman said. “He obviously loves Te Rapa, and his ability to race up on the pace was a real asset.
“We thought he might be a run short going into today, with only the one trial under his belt. But we wanted to try to give him as many opportunities to race at that track as we could, so thought it would be worth running today even if it was effectively a second trial.
“But we had a look at the field and thought he might not have too much competition for the lead. If he was able to get his way out in front and then rail the way he does at Te Rapa, he might be hard to catch, and that’s how it turned out.
“We don’t have too much planned for the rest of his campaign now – just racing at Te Rapa as much as we can.”
Runner-up Quality Time was an eye-catcher in his New Zealand debut for new trainer Kylie Hoskin. The gelding began his career with three wins in Germany, then won another three races and more than $350,000 for syndicators Go Racing while racing out of the Chris Waller stable in Australia. Notably, all of his victories have been between 1550m and 2200m.
