Heroic Valour Remains Undefeated in Group 1 Diamond Stakes

For the fifth consecutive year, the prestigious $200,000 Group 1 Sistema Diamond Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie has been taken out by a Karaka graduate.

Te Akau Racing’s Heroic Valour (Fastnet Rock) maintained his unbeaten career record with an outstanding performance to trump a highly accomplished field of juveniles in Saturday’s $200,000 feature.

He raced close to the pace throughout, and despite racing greenly down the straight he produced a turn of foot no rival could match and scored by a neck. The lightly raced Wyndspelle (NZ) (Iffraaj) made it a Karaka quinella with his fast-finishing second.

This was the second stakes win for Heroic Valour, who won the Listed Reid & Harrison Slipper at Matamata two weeks ago.

“He’s improving all the time and keeps stepping up,” said Jamie Richards, who trains the colt in partnership with Stephen Autridge. “He’s a very talented colt and a very valuable one – we won’t be making any decisions just yet on the next move. We’ll take a couple of days and then make a plan.”

A half-brother to multiple Group 1 winner Triple Honour, Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis paid $400,000 to buy Heroic Valour at the 2015 Premier Sale. Their esteem for the colt was illustrated earlier this year when Ellis paid $510,000 for a full-brother at the 2016 Premier Sale.

With this impressive victory, Heroic Valour became the first son or daughter of Fastnet Rock anywhere in the world to win a Group One race as a two-year-old.

Heroic Valour continues the trend of Karaka graduates winning the Diamond Stakes, following in the footsteps of Dal Cielo (NZ) (Per Incanto), Vespa (NZ) (Elusive City), Ruud Awakening (Bernardini) and Warhorse (NZ) (General Nediym).