Second Stakes Success for House Of Cartier (NZ)

Racing in the form of her life this Spring, quality Karaka graduate House Of Cartier (Alamosa) struck her second slice of black type gold in Saturday’s $60,000 Listed Ricoh Feilding Gold Cup (1600m) at Awapuni.

The valuable daughter of multiple Group One winner Shez Sinsational (NZ) (Ekraar) was passed in at the 2017 Premier Sale. She has now won five races and more than $340,000 in stakes, headed by this season’s Group Three Metric Mile (1600m) and the Feilding Gold Cup. In between times, she was beaten by only 1.5 lengths when fifth in the Group One Livamol Classic (2040m).

Ridden on Saturday by in-form jockey Sarah Macnab, House Of Cartier swooped into contention around the home turn and soon stamped her class on the Listed feature. She bounded away down the straight to score by three and a half lengths from runner-up Marietta Lane (NZ) (Zed).

“I’m just stoked with that,” trainer Peter Didham told NZ Racing Desk. “She won very well and it was a super ride by Sarah.

“She got her off the fence and in the clear, and the mare likes to get rolling in her races. Sarah really had her trucking on the corner, and once she balanced up, she just raced clear and did it on her ear.

“I thought she would be hard to beat – her work during the week was fantastic and she kept licking her feed bowl clean every night. She has had quite a light prep this time in, with just the two trials and two races, and I think that has really suited her.”

Being a well-performed daughter of a superstar racemare, a valuable broodmare career awaits House Of Cartier at some point in the future. However, her rich run of form on the racetrack this spring may have pushed that further away.

“We had planned to put her in foal this season, but she has been going so well, that option has been put on the back burner,” Didham said. “I think she may have one more run, and then she can have a break from those hard summer tracks and come back in the Autumn.”

House Of Cartier and her Listed-winning half-sister Sinarahma (NZ) (Darci Brahma) are the two stakes-winning progeny of Shez Sinsational, who herself won 12 races including the Group One Spring Classic (2040m), Zabeel Classic (2000m), International Stakes (2000m) and Auckland Cup (3200m). She was also placed in the Queensland Derby (2400m) and Queensland Oaks (2400m).