Grail Seeker (NZ) Sensational in Telegraph

With two scintillating Group One victories from her only two races this season, Grail Seeker (NZ) (Iffraaj) has quadrupled her career earnings and instantly become one of New Zealand racing’s headline acts.

The four-year-old outclassed her opposition in Saturday’s $550,000 Group One TAB Telegraph (1200m) at Trentham, which was the fourth win of an increasingly impressive 11-race career. She has placed on another four occasions and earned $729,715 – almost six times her purchase price at Karaka 2022.

Grail Seeker showed a glimpse of her X-factor talent in a nine-race campaign as a three-year-old last season, picking up two wins including a three-length romp in the Group Two Wellington Guineas (1400m) in March. She also placed in the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Group Three Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) and Listed Trevor & Corallie Eagle Memorial (1500m), and she finished her three-year-old season with career earnings of $183,465. But those promising performances were only the beginning for a rising superstar of Kiwi racing.

Trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott have been unafraid to test Grail Seeker’s talents against New Zealand’s top echelon at weight-for-age this season, starting with the Group One Tarzino Trophy (1400m) at Hastings in September. Grail Seeker went out as a $32 outsider that day against a star-studded field that featured six other past or future Group One winners, but she produced a brilliant burst of speed in the straight to win with ease.

O’Sullivan and Scott resisted the temptation to ask too much of the exciting mare that spring, instead putting her aside and saving her for a shot at Saturday’s Telegraph. Those two races were 17 weeks apart, or 119 days, but O’Sullivan and Scott had Grail Seeker trained to the minute on both of those big occasions.

Grail Seeker was sent out as a $4.40 favourite on Saturday against another elite sprint line-up, and a patient ride from Kevin Stott saw her drop out to the back of the field coming across the junction on to Trentham’s course proper.

Stott angled his mount into clear air out wide in the home straight and pushed the button, and Grail Seeker did the rest. She blasted past her nine rivals with an explosive turn of foot, careering away to win by two and a half lengths.

“She was pretty electric,” said Stott, whose two previous Group One victories include the Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1200m) at Royal Ascot.

“It was push-button stuff for me on top. We went at a nice enough speed, and she was comfortable in the soft ground today.

“She was always travelling nicely. It was just about trying to find the right horse to take me into the race. Once I did have a gap, she had a very good turn of foot and put the race to bed pretty quickly.”

O’Sullivan and Scott took special satisfaction from seeing their long-range plan pay off in such spectacular style.

“She’s a very good galloper, there’s no doubt about that, and she really goes well fresh,” Scott said. “We had a big plan to get her here fresh today.

“She’s been to a racecourse every week for the last month, whether it’s trialling, galloping between races or walking around birdcages. It was all about having her ready for this one day today.

“When she arrived on course today, we thought she was bang on. To get this result is massive. I’m very proud of all of our team and of the horse’s performance.

“Our approach has been all about trying to get longevity out of her. She’s a beautiful, big mare, but she’s still only a baby. She’s going to be even better when she’s five.

“Trevor (Clarke) and Chris (Jones) are incredibly patient owners, they’re animal people and they know that being patient now can be rewarded with some real longevity into next season and even the season after that.

“Now the plan is to hopefully get her to the Waikato Sprint (Group One, 1400m) next month, and further down the track we might even think about a Stradbroke (Group One, 1400m) in Brisbane if we can get in with a light weight.”

Grail Seeker was bred by Jamieson Park, who offered her in their Book 1 draft at Karaka 2022. She is one of seven individual Group One winners to come out of that year’s sale, alongside Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel), Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High), Quintessa (NZ) (Shamus Award), Pulchritudinous (NZ) (Wrote), Warmonger (NZ) (War Decree) and Ulanova (NZ) (Santos).

Grail Seeker headed a Telegraph trifecta for Karaka graduates on Saturday. Runner-up Sacred Satono (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) was a $34,000 purchase from Book 2 of Karaka 2021. He has had 27 starts for six wins, nine placings and $585,203 in stakes – more than 17 times his purchase price.

The third placegetter was Navigator (NZ) (El Roca), who was bought for $110,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2021. He has recorded four wins and six placings in a 13-race career, banking $222,540.

Vendor	Jamieson Park
Purchaser	Kakapo Lodge (Auckland)
Breeding	Iffraaj – Starwish
Sale	Lot 610, Karaka 2022 Book 1, $130,000
Bred by	Jamieson Park Ltd