Stunning Group One Tarzino Triumph for Grail Seeker (NZ)

Lightly raced four-year-old Grail Seeker (NZ) (Iffraaj) came of age in dazzling style against star-studded opposition at Hastings on Saturday, claiming her first Group One victory in the $400,000 Westbury Stud Tarzino Trophy (1400m).

Grail Seeker was offered by breeders Jamieson Park in Book 1 of Karaka 2022, where she was bought for $130,000 by Kakapo Lodge. She has now had 10 starts for three wins, four placings and $413,465 in stakes.

Saturday’s Tarzino triumph came less than a year after Grail Seeker’s debut, which was a third placing in a 1200-metre maiden race at Matamata on September 20 last year. She went on to win twice during that three-year-old campaign, including a dominant come-from-behind victory in the Group Two Wellington Guineas (1400m) at Trentham in March. She also placed in the Group Two Eight Carat Classic (1600m), Group Three Desert Gold Stakes (1600m) and Listed Trevor & Corallie Eagle Memorial (1500m).

Trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott threw her in at the deep end for her four-year-old debut in the first Group One race of the New Zealand season, where her 10 opponents included five individual Group One winners. But Grail Seeker produced a Tarzino Trophy performance that left no one in doubt that she belongs on the big stage.

Australian jockey Matt Cartwright settled Grail Seeker in sixth on the rail behind a solid speed. She travelled smoothly throughout, and when Cartwright angled her out to the centre of the track and turned her loose in the straight, Grail Seeker produced an explosive turn of foot.

She bounded past Faraglioni (NZ) (El Roca) and Sacred Satono (NZ) (Satono Aladdin) and powered to victory by a length and a quarter, stopping the clock at 1:21.46 – the fastest Tarzino since 2006.

“She travelled beautifully,” Cartwright said. “She jumped and settled. In her previous prep, it looked like she could get quite keen, but she travelled lovely for me and tracked into it perfectly. Once I let her go, she accelerated really well.”

Grail Seeker became the second Tarzino winner in the last three years for O’Sullivan and Scott, who won the race in 2022 with fellow Karaka graduate Dark Destroyer (NZ) (Proisir).

“It’s just amazing,” Scott said. “It’s great to have owners who believe in the dream and are happy to bypass a Foxbridge (1200m) and believe in what we hope could happen. They believed in Wexford, believed in us and believed in our team.

“We sat back for this and hoped that she’d just come with one big run. What a ride from Matt. He’s just on the crest of a wave today.

“We’ve got a massive team, and we can’t do this without the people we have around us. It’s a team thing and it’s just amazing.

“We had dinner in Rarotonga with Trevor (Clarke, co-owner), and we said we’d sit back and have one go at this race. Chris and Trevor have been amazing. It’s a fairytale and a great result.

“Rudy Liefting sent Trevor and Chris (Jones) our way. They wanted to try some fillies, buy them from the sales and invest in the game. To get results for guys like them is what racing is all about.”

Grail Seeker is the seventh individual Group One winner to come out of Karaka 2022, joining Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel), Molly Bloom (NZ) (Ace High), Quintessa (NZ) (Shamus Award), Pulchritudinous (NZ) (Wrote), Warmonger (NZ) (War Decree) and Ulanova (NZ) (Santos).

Vendor	Jamieson Park
Purchaser	Kakapo Lodge (Auckland)
Breeding	Iffraaj – Starwish
Sale	Lot 610, Karaka 2022 Book 1, $130,000
Bred by	Jamieson Park Ltd