So You Think (NZ) "Incredible"

As So You Think (NZ) produced another scintillating performance to win the Group 1 Tattersalls Gold Cup (10 1/2f), Irish racegoers and European racing fans embraced this outstanding thoroughbred as followers throughout Australasia have during his career down under.

The support for the superstar on the tote was relentless and, with 1/3 odds offered throughout last week seeming a generous price, the bookies tightened the net around So You Think (NZ) (High Chaparral x Triassic) to as short as 1/7 in the Cup.

So You Think (NZ)

And the money was spot on. Sitting just off the leader Windsor Palace (Danehill Dancer), champion jockey Ryan Moore, in a hands and heels ride, asked the son of High Chaparral to quicken and the response was immediate. Taking the lead two furlongs from home, it was all over, as So You Think easily extended over the final stages to record a four-and-a-half length victory.

Trainer Aidan O'Brien, who gave glowing accolades after So You Think's Irish debut, was very impressed with the win and has outlined the champion's next Group 1 tilt.

"He's incredible - a different creature to what we've ever seen before and we're just very lucky to have him racing on this side of the world this year.

"The Prince of Wales's at Royal Ascot will be next. That was always the plan if everything went well today. It was important for Ryan Moore to sit on him in a race in case he might be able to ride him at Ascot."

The Group 1 Prince of Wales's Stakes is run over one mile two furlongs and is the highlight of the second day of Royal Ascot on Wednesday 15 June.  

Jockey Ryan Moore, who rides Workforce who is considered one of So You Think's biggest rivals, was very impressed with the performance.

"So You Think has a big, long stride that covers the same amount of ground most horses would take two strides to cover. He travelled very well and was impressive when I asked him to go on."

Bookmakers have taken little time in reacting to So You Think's first Northern Hemisphere Group 1 win, making him an outright favourite for the prestigious King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at 5/2, with some quoting prices a short as 2/1 for this Group 1 race at Ascot on July 23.

He has also been pushed ahead of Workforce in many markets for one of Europe's greatest races, the Prix de L'Arc de Triomphe on October 2 where he is now favourite at 7/2, in from 9/2.

Now a six-time Group 1 winner, So You Think joins some of the greats of New Zealand racing and breeding, with horses including Black Mamba (NZ), Happyanunoit (NZ) Horlicks (NZ), Sunline (NZ), and NZB graduates Starcraft (NZ) and Vengeance of Rain (NZ), who all carried the NZ suffix and won major Group 1 races on the international stage.  

He is also the first New Zealand bred horse to win a Group 1 race in Europe since Starcraft who won the Group 1 Prix du Moulin de Longchamp (1600m) in France and the Group 1 Newmarket Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (1600m) in 2005.

So You Think was bred by Michael Moran and Piper Farm and was bought by Duncan Ramage's DGR Thoroughbreds from Windsor Park Stud for $110,000 at the 2008 Karaka Premier Sale.