Seajetz (NZ) Sprouts Wings in Karaka Classic

An irresistible finish down the Pukekohe straight carried Karaka graduate Seajetz (NZ) (Iffraaj) to his first blacktype victory in Tuesday’s $90,000 Listed Karaka Classic (1500m).

Bought by David Ellis for $100,000 from the Book 1 draft of Trelawney Stud at Karaka 2019, Seajetz has now earned $140,462 in prizemoney for his owners Bill and Sandra Duell.

The five-year-old stepped up to stakes level after a powerful come-from-behind win in his last start at Matamata on October 8, and he was ridden patiently by Niranjan Parmar and took up a position near the rear of the field. Turning for home, he still had only three other horses behind him.

But Seajetz came to the outside at the top of the straight and quickened impressively, charging into contention in a few powerful bounds. It developed into a two-horse battle between Seajetz and last season’s joint New Zealand Bloodstock Filly of the Year Self Obsession (NZ) (Shocking), and Seajetz prevailed by a long head.

“I was confident on the corner,” the winner’s apprentice jockey said. “I managed to pull out on the turn, and the luck was with me today.”

Originally trained by Jamie Richards and now in the care of his father Paul, Seajetz has had 22 career starts for seven wins, a second and a third.

A two-time winner as a three-year-old, he collected another two wins last season and has made a strong start this spring with three wins from only five appearances.

There was some fitting timing around the gelding’s first black-type win, coming in the midst of the annual Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington. The granddam of Seajetz, La Bella Dama (NZ) (Desert Sun), was a star performer at the carnival, winning the Group One Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) and placing in the Group One Emirates Stakes (1600m).