Imperialist (NZ) Heads Karaka Clean Sweep in Rough Habit

Karaka graduates dominated Saturday’s A$250,000 Group Three HKJC World Pool Rough Habit Plate (2000m) at Doomben, filling all of the top five placings.

That clean sweep was headed by a super-impressive win by Imperialist (NZ) (Churchill), who was bought by Chris Waller Racing and Mulcaster Bloodstock for $170,000 from Curraghmore’s Book 1 draft at Karaka 2023. Imperialist has now had 13 starts for two wins, three placings and A$387,850.

Imperialist was chased home in Saturday’s three-year-old feature by the $220,000 Ready to Run Sale purchase Deep Focus (NZ) (Deep Field), the $50,000 Ready to Run buy King Of Thunder (NZ) (Tivaci), the $250,000 Karaka 2023 Book 1 graduate Maison Louis (NZ) (Super Seth), and the $550,000 Ready to Run Sale purchase Our Benefactor (NZ) (Contributer).

Imperialist’s Rough Habit heroics were an emphatic return to form by a highly talented racehorse who had previously won the Listed The Phoenix (1500m) as a two-year-old in Brisbane last June. The Chris Waller-trained gelding picked up Group Two placings in Melbourne earlier this season in the Autumn Classic (1800m) and Alister Clark Stakes (2040m), but then was unplaced in the Group One Australian Derby (2400m) and Group Two Queensland Guineas (1600m) in his two most recent appearances.

Waller removed the blinkers for Saturday’s assignment, and he and jockey Tommy Berry agreed to push forward from their outside gate among a 14-horse field.

Imperialist covered plenty of ground going around the first turn, but pressed forward and took the lead in the back straight. He looked vulnerable as the chasers loomed on both sides of him coming down the side of the track towards the home turn, but then Imperialist lifted again and shook them all off.

Imperialist kicked away in the straight and put himself well out of reach of his challengers, going on to win by a length and a half.

“Full credit to the team behind this horse,” Berry said. “He has always had ability, but it hasn’t been easy to get the best out of him. Chris took the blinkers back off and we just changed things up a little bit in the hope that we’d get a result.

“Chris is the best trainer of stayers around, so if he thinks he can get the horse to stay, then he can get the horse to stay.”

Waller was pleased to see Imperialist back on his game.

“We didn’t know what to do with this horse after his last start, where we tried blinkers and it didn’t work,” he said. “So we took them off and suggested to Tommy that we ride him a bit closer to the speed today. He had a nice soft time up front and it sparked some interest.

“He brought some good form to Sydney from Melbourne, but then didn’t quite stay the 2400 metres in the Derby. I’ll have a chat to Tommy to see what he says, but I do still have some concerns over the 2400 metres in the Queensland Derby. The Churchills tend to be slightly speedier horses, so we’ll have a think over the next few days about where we go with him next.”

Vendor	Curraghmore
Purchaser	Chris Waller Racing/Mulcaster Bloodstock (New South Wales)
Breeding	Churchill – Dancing Hare
Sale	Lot 128, Karaka 2023 Book 1, $170,000
Breeder	Arkle Bloodstock & G R Cunningham
Owner	Mr C J Waller, Mr N A Greenhalgh, Mrs M T Greenhalgh, Mrs S Mann, Mrs A C Galvin, Mr M Phillips, Mrs L Phillips, Mr K T Gibbons, Mr L Caminiti, Mrs E Hunt, Mr K C Drummond, Mr M Coli, Mr W J Coli, Mr M G Bates, Mr T R Hunt