Military Move Back to his Best

Former Group 1 New Zealand Derby winner Military Move (NZ) (Volksraad) completed a return to top form since his arrival back from Hong Kong with victory in the Group 3 $70,000 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup (2300m) at Awapuni on Saturday.

Military Move (NZ) winning the Group 3 Hotel Coachman Manawatu Cup at Awapuni on Saturday.

The Shaune Ritchie trained seven-year-old returned to New Zealand earlier this year and was having his fourth start back following a two-season stint in Hong Kong that yielded two wins.

Military Move was a last start winner, also at Awapuni, signalling he had come back to his best form that saw him win a Group 1 as a three-year-old before departing his homeland.

Ridden by Jonathon Riddell, the Karaka Select Sale and Ready to Run Sale graduate gained an economical run from barrier four in a muddling run race that saw a number of horses loop the field and challenge for the lead throughout the 2300m event.

Military Move had been shuffled back to near the tail of the field approaching the home straight however Riddell was able to find a gap which the Volksraad gelding burst through. Race-favourite Who Shot Thebarman (NZ) (Yaminan Vital) went with Military Move – who started second-favourite – but it was the latter that proved too strong in the finish to claim victory by a long head at the line.

“He is a lovely horse Military Move and has always been a good horse,” stated Ritchie.

“He has been a great horse for the stable. He had limited success in Hong Kong but I think that was due to the fact that he is a natural stayer and the distances up there, as we all know, are mostly around the mile and there are very few opportunities for the stayers.

“He has been working terrific at home but you never really know if they have the desire to win back. When horses go to an environment like Hong Kong you don’t really know if they have the willpower when they come back, sometimes they have lost that instinct to find the winning post so it is nice to see that Military Move hasn’t and he is somewhere back to his best.

“HIs Hong Kong owner, who has a number of good horses including Military Attack so is obviously importing the highest quality of horses from around the world, was looking to replace him with another horse after he won a couple of races with him in Hong Kong so he sent the horse back to me. We keep him updated with how the horse is going and he is obviously happy that the horse is doing well.

“It will be interesting to see how far he will get. It was a moderate handicap he won two starts back and the Manawatu Cup didn’t have the cream of the crop that the Waikato Cup had. The horse’s confidence is now at a high but now we have to tackle those horses that competed in the Waikato Cup and he will be up in weights.

“He will run in the Wellington Cup and then it will be weight-depending whether we tackle the Auckland Cup or not.

“There is always the option of Australia - the Sydney Cup is A$1 million. I don’t know if he will run out the two miles but if he keeps answering the questions we will keep rising the bar and see how far he will go.”

Saturday’s victory was the sixth in Military Move’s career, winning two races as a three-year-old in New Zealand before his departure to Hong Kong where he prevailed twice and has now recorded two wins since returning to New Zealand.

Military Move was purchased by Almond Lee for $110,000 at the 2008 Ready to Run Sale from Amity Lodge.

Now owned by A P Ritchie, B A Bellingham & S E Anderson, Military Move has accumulated $1,964,092 in prizemoney from his 31 starts thanks largely to his Group 1 New Zealand Derby victory, with the race run at a record prize purse of $2.2 million the year he was successful.

Bred by Windsor Park Stud, the son of the ever-present sire Volksraad is out of the three-time winning mare All Night Party (Just a Dancer), a half-sister to dual Group 1 winner Catalan Opening (Kaapstad).