Dionysus (NZ) Heads Karaka Quinella in Waikato Cup

Runner-up in the same race 12 months ago, well-performed stayer Dionysus (NZ) (Ocean Park) came back and went one better in the $140,000 Group Three Skycity Hamilton Waikato Cup (2400m) at Te Rapa on Saturday.

A hard-fought victory over fellow Karaka graduate Prise De Fer (NZ) (Savabeel) was the sixth win of a 26-start career for Dionysus, who was bought for $45,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2019. The gelding has earned $394,380 in stakes for owners Ron and Fran Dixon.

After settling in third-last through the early part of the race, Dionysus and jockey Warren Kennedy began to creep closer as the field turned out of the back straight. He was well within striking range with 400 metres remaining, and Kennedy brought him to the outside to make his run.

Dionysus lengthened stride and bounded into contention out wide on the track, but his burst of acceleration was matched by Prise De Fer and Coruba Jak (NZ) (Jakkalberry). In a hard-fought battle to the finish, Dionysus refused to be denied and clawed his way ahead of the other two to score by half a length for Cambridge trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood.

“He went absolutely fantastic,” Kennedy said. “He’s a lovely horse and I think Roger and Robert have really brought him on the right way. He’s super fit at the moment and enjoying his racing. He can be a handful, but he did everything right today, bar jumping out of the gates, which he never gets right.

“They keep a reasonable gallop all the way around. I got on the back of Prise De Fer, who I thought was probably the next best, he tracked me through and this horse settled beautifully in the run, he was breathing well.

“I wanted to put the horse with the biggest weight under pressure early, so I challenged Prise De Fer at the top of the straight and got a bit of a lead. Dionysus was floating around quite a bit waiting for the challenge to come, and when Prise De Fer got within a neck of me, the horse realised he had to go again and kicked on.”

Runner-up Prise De Fer was a $100,000 purchase by David Ellis from the 2017 Premier Sale at Karaka. He is closing in on the million-dollar barrier, with his 48-start career producing 11 wins, 18 placings and $938,900 in stakes.