Brilliant Mufhasa Takes Fifth Group 1

In one of the most anticipated races of the season, the $200,000 Group 1 Waikato Draught Sprint (1400m) on Saturday saw a super performance by Mufhasa to head off a stellar field to record his fifth Group 1 victory.

In a field that boasted seven Group 1 winners including Wall Street, We Can Say It Now, Katie Lee, Keep the Peace, Jacowils and Vonusti, Mufhasa (Pentire x Sheila Cheval) showed his class as he romped to a one-and-three-quarter length win.

With regular raceday partner Sam Spratt aboard, the six-year-old raced right up on the pace, outsprinting his rivals in the straight, to score a gallant victory for owners David Archer, Mr S C Archer, Miss N N Archer & Mrs D J Wright, and trainer Stephen McKee.

With Wall Street (Montjeu) hitting the line strongly for second place, he sealed a New Zealand Bloodstock graduates quinella in the feature sprint. Keep the Peace (Keeper) showed a late turn-off-foot to take third place and joins Wall Street as they look to target the rich Australian spoils in the autumn.

Mufhasa has added his name to a list of wonderful horses that have won the time-honoured race including Soliloquy, Mr Tiz, Sunline, Darci Brahma and Seachange. Unsurprisingly trainer Stephen Mckee is delighted with the horse's current form.

"He has been racing very well as of late. His last few wins have been very strong, particularly at the end of his races where he produces that big finish.

 "We have a few options up our sleeve for the horse, one is to take him to Melbourne to line up in the Futurity Stakes, but we will most likely look to the Otaki-Maori Weight for Age in a couple of weeks time before heading to Sydney.

"He hasn't had a lot of luck in Australia, he's had two attempts in the George-Ryder Stakes for two thirds after bad draws and bad footing, and he drew wide in the Stradbroke Handicap as well but still ran a strong race, so here's hoping we can get a few favours this time."

Bred by C C E & J W Thompson and bought by David Archer at the 2006 Karaka Select Sale from Rich Hill Stud for only $50,000, Mufhasa is the fifth individual Group 1 winning graduate from the Select Sale Session this season and has now earned over $2.1 million in stakes.