Group 1 Performer Dee I Cee (NZ) Back to Best

Dee I Cee (NZ) (Istidaad), who cost just $1,000 as a weanling and $7,000 as a two-year-old at Karaka, bounced back to his high-class best with a dominant win in the A$125,000 Listed New Caledonia Travel Connection Premier’s Cup (1900m) at Rosehill on Saturday.

The winner of two races in New Zealand for Wanganui trainer Kevin Myers, and third behind Mongolian Khan and Volkstok’n’barrell in the Group 1 New Zealand Derby, Dee I Cee had struggled to recapture his best form since joining the leading Australian stable of Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.

But he showed his true colours on Saturday, powering to the lead in the home straight under a well-timed ride from Rachel King and racing clear to score by two and a quarter lengths.

“He didn't really come up last time in the autumn," Bott said. "But he had had the grounding for a race like this. Rachel rode him perfectly.

“He will probably follow the same path as last year to the Newcastle Cup and Metropolitan.”

Dee I Cee was bred by Mrs BL and GW Thomas and is one of five winners out of the Night Shift mare Smashed All Night (NZ). Her sprinting daughter Designated Driver (NZ), by Danroad, won four races and placed in the Group 1 Telegraph at Trentham.

Dee I Cee was offered by Willow Tree Farm at the 2012 National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale, where top pinhookers Diamond Lodge bought him for $1,000.

He returned a year later for the 2013 Ready to Run Sale, where Kevin Myers bought him for $7,000.

Dee I Cee is now raced by Mr SG Mcpeake, Mr SC Khaw, Mr A Konstantatos, Mrs A Konstantatos, Mrs SA Hardie, Gurners Bloodstock Co, Mr LC Henderson, Halatex Pty Ltd, Mrs G Gibson, Mr T Mitevski, Mrs S Mitevski, Mr R Day, Mr GA Ebbeck, Mr DJ Taber and Mr BA Stracey.

He has now had 16 starts for three wins, six placings and more than A$201,000 in prizemoney – more than 30 times his Ready to Run Sale purchase price.