Aljay (NZ) All Heart in Spring Classic

Aljay (NZ) (Rock ‘N’ Pop) added to an outstanding few weeks for Ready to Run Sale graduates with a courageous weight-carrying performance in Saturday’s $80,000 Listed Sothys Spring Classic (2000m) at Riccarton.

Aljay was a $39,000 purchase from the 2019 Ready to Run Sale and has now earned $523,387 from a 43-start career that has produced 10 wins, eight seconds and seven thirds.

His Spring Classic success is the latest in a series of big wins for Ready to Run Sale graduates in the countdown to the 2024 edition of the standout two-year-old sale at Karaka next month. Recent weeks have also seen Ceolwulf (NZ) (Tavistock) rise to Group One stardom in the King Charles III Stakes (1600m) and Epsom Handicap (1600m) in Sydney, while Antino (NZ) (Redwood) romped to a wide-margin win in the Group One Toorak Handicap (1600m) at Caulfield.

The Spring Classic was at the scene of Aljay’s biggest win, the Group Three New Zealand Cup (3200m) in November of 2022. The seven-year-old had to carry a testing topweight of 59 kilograms on Saturday against 11 opponents who all had either 53 or 53.5 kilograms.

But after settling near the tail of the field, Aljay and jockey Jonathan Riddell swooped around the outside of the field at the home turn and hit the front. Aljay dug deep down the Riccarton straight and pulled ahead of his lighter-weighted rivals, winning by two lengths.

“He’s a lovely old horse and I was lucky to get the ride on him today,” Riddell said. “I was supposed to be riding another runner, but then Kevin Myers (trainer) put this horse in and there was nothing else I could ride at the weights. So I was lucky that Kevin put me on the horse, and I appreciate that.

“Gee, he’s a tough horse. Those track conditions didn’t worry him at all. He was effectively carrying a stone more than the rest of the field, which is not easy, but he did it comfortably in the end.

“Kevin owns the horse too along with Charlie (Gestro), so they’ve made a bit of money with him, the two old fellas!”

The 2024 Ready to Run Sale will take place at Karaka on 20 and 21 November, with selling starting at 11am each day.