Sprint Success for Hasabro (NZ)

Hasabro (NZ) (Savabeel) is a proven performer up to Group Two level over longer distances, but it was over a seemingly unsuitable sprint trip that the high-quality gelding picked up the first stakes win of his career at Wingatui on Boxing Day. 

Carrying a 60-kilogram topweight against a field mostly on the 53-kilogram minimum, the Karaka graduate produced an electrifying finish from well off the pace to win the $60,000 Listed Alleviate Administration Hazlett Stakes (1200m).

Bought by syndicators Go Racing for $220,000 from Waikato Stud’s draft at the 2017 Premier Sale, Hasabro has recorded seven wins from 35 career starts, earning more than $191,000 in stakes. He also finished second in the Group Two Easter Handicap (1600m) at Ellerslie earlier this year.

Hasabro has found a rich vein of form since moving to the South Island this season, winning three of his five starts in this campaign and now under the care of Riccarton trainer Andrew Carston.

Go Racing’s Albert Bosma was delighted with Sunday’s performance, which was a stylish return to form after an uncharacteristic last-start failure in the Group Two Coupland’s Bakeries Mile (1600m).

“That was a good win by a good horse,” Bosma said. “It was a distance short of his best, but sometimes these good horses can sprint really well fresh, and that’s exactly what he’s done today. He’s thriving down in the South Island this season with Andrew, who’s doing a fantastic job with him

“We probably got the tactics a little bit wrong in the Coupland’s, but Andrew decided to freshen him up after that and he’s freshened up really well. He stepped out in great order on Sunday and produced a dominant performance.”

Hasabro’s next major target is likely to be either the Group One Thorndon Mile (1600m) at Trentham on January 29 or the Group Three White Robe Lodge (1600m) at Wingatui a week later.

“He’s nominated for the Thorndon Mile, and he’ll either go there or to the White Robe Lodge – being a weight-for-age race worth $100,000, that could be right up his alley too,” Bosma said. “So he’ll run in either of those races, most likely with one lead-up run beforehand.”