Luvaluva (NZ) Heads Karaka Trifecta in Adrian Knox

The opening day of The Championships at Randwick on Saturday ended on a high note for New Zealand Bloodstock, with Karaka graduates filling the trifecta in the A$200,000 Group 3 TAB Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m).

Multiple stakes-winning filly Luvaluva (NZ) (Mastercraftsman) came out on top, carrying her hefty 60-kilogram topweight to a determined win. Unwinding strongly down the centre of the track, she got up to score by a neck in the hands of Kerrin McEvoy.

“I think we have a good one here,” expat New Zealand trainer John Sargent said. “I think he (McEvoy) might have waited a bit longer, but obviously he thought he had to get going with the big weight. She was there to be beaten up the straight, but she went to the line strong.”

Bought by Sargent for $55,000 at the 2016 Ready to Run Sale, Luvaluva has now won four of her 10 starts and A$498,400 in prizemoney. This was her third stakes win, having previously captured the Group 2 Wakeful Stakes (2000m) and the Group 3 Kembla Grange Classic (1600m).

Luvaluva is expected to be one of the leading contenders when she backs up in next Saturday’s A$1 million Group 1 Australian Oaks (2400m), which will also feature the Karaka graduate and New Zealand Oaks winner Savvy Coup (NZ) (Savabeel).

The runner-up in the Adrian Knox Stakes was Pretty To Sea (NZ) (Ocean Park), who cost $150,000 at the 2016 Premier Sale and has had a win and four placings from her six starts to date for A$60,270 in prizemoney.

Third-placed Chilly Cha Cha (NZ) (Mastercraftsman), a half-sister to the Group 1 winner Suavito (NZ) (Thorn Park), cost $160,000 as a weanling and $180,000 at the 2016 Premier Sale. She has earned A$92,390 from an eight-start career that includes four wins and two placings.