SAVEAPATROL RETURNING TO CANTERBURY
Overport Lodge trainer Mark Jones will return top pacer Saveapatrol to Canterbury and freshen him for the Hannon Memorial at Oamaru in two months time.
Saveapatrol, shown winning the 2015 Thames Cup at Auckland on July 3. (Trish Dunell photo).
“There was no race for him in Auckland last week but he couldn’t have raced anyway as he picked up a foot infection,” Mark said of the Thames Cup winner.
“He’s still getting over the foot infection this week so I’m not worried about starting him and the field is not guaranteed to get off the ground anyway.”
Mark says the big Christian Cullen-Rondel Franco gelding can have a couple of weeks off.
“He’ll head home this week and get ready for the Hannon (September 13),” he said.
Meanwhile, the stable stocks have been boosted with the arrival of speedy juvenile filly Northern Velocity, who was purchased this month out of the Allstars stable by Australian interests and transferred to Mark Jones.
“She will have a good spell and return for the 3YO Sires Stakes Fillies Heats in November or early December,” he said.
The Group One 3YO Sires Stakes Fillies Championship is run at Auckland on December 31.
She will try and add the PGG Wrightson Yearling Sales 3YO Fillies Pace at Addington next February to her big win in the Listed $146,250 2YO PGG Yearling Sales 2YO Fillies Pace at Addington on May 15.
Northern Velocity, a half-sister by Mach Three to former NZ Free-For-All winner Pembrook Benny (1:53.6), along with Pembrook Caesar (1:53, Aust) and former five-win Overport Lodge winner Holme Fire (1:58.8), won three of eight 2YO starts for the Mark Purdon/Natalie Rasmussen team, earning $140,560.
Besides her PGG win, she also won two Group Three features, the American Ideal Leonard Memorial at the Cheviot meeting on March 1, and the Caduceus Club-Southland/Nevele R Stud Fillies Classic at Invercargill on March 21, and chased home Arden’s Choice in the G1 $113,406 Woodlands Stud/Caduceus Club 2YO Fillies Classic at Auckland on April 17.
Northern Velocity , despite being unsettled before the start of the Harness Jewels 2YO Diamond at her final 2YO start on May 30, still ran sixth to Dream About Me, being racetimed in 1:54.8 for the mile.
By Jeff Scott