The Prince of New Zealand Wins the G1 Melbourne Cup

Kiwi stayer Prince of Penzance (NZ) (Pentire) outclassed a star-studded international field to take out the A$6 million Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.

Prince of Penzance (NZ) wins the Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup.

Continuing the rich history New Zealand-bred horses have in the race that stops not one but two nations, the Melbourne Cup, Prince of Penzance is the 24th kiwi winner in the past 50 years of the great race - a strike rate of 48%.

The staying prowess of New Zealand horses is what attracted Queensland bloodstock agent John Foote to Karaka in his search for a top-class staying prospect.

“New Zealand has always produced great stayers and still does,” commented Foote.  “There is great value to be found as well, across all three sales.

“Buyers don’t have to go to the UK to find good stayers, there is plenty of quality to be found in New Zealand. I don’t know why so many Australians buy these expensive tried horses in Europe when there is quality, at great value, on our door step in New Zealand.”

Purchasing for trainer Darren Weir, Foote paid just NZ$50,000 for Prince of Penzance at the 2011 Karaka Premier Sale from Rich Hill Stud.

“It is always wonderful to have a Group 1 winner and the Melbourne Cup is the highest profile race in Australasia to win,” said Foote. “The overseas horses were good this year but we found this horse much closer to home in New Zealand and he has done a great job.

“He was great value when we bought him as a yearling. He was a nice horse by a very good sire in Pentire, he has a good pedigree and was an extremely good walking horse. We probably got him at great value because he was early in the catalogue.”

The race yesterday will go down in history as rider Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win the Group 1 Melbourne Cup. Payne has a great association with Prince of Penzance, having ridden him in 23 of this 24 starts. She was aboard the son of Pentire in his other two stakes wins which came in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup and the Listed Mornington Cup Prelude.

Payne’s brother Stevie, who has Down Syndrome, straps the horse and drew barrier 1 for Prince of Penzance at the barrier draw on Saturday night. The coveted draw proved valuable.

Enjoying a cosy run from the inside barrier, Prince of Penzance settled mid-field and relaxed for the majority of the 3200m race. Payne edged him out as they approached the corner to enter the straight in the centre of the field.

Prince of Penzance drove to the lead in the straight and was challenged late by Max Dynamite (Great Journey), but the kiwi was too strong and raced to victory by half-a-length over Max Dynamite with fellow kiwi Criterion (NZ) (Sebring) finishing in third.

It was a first victory in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup for Weir, Australia’s leading trainer last season.

“Winning a Melbourne Cup is the pinnacle for any trainer,” commented Foote. “Darren is a great trainer, his record shows that, and he is a particularly good trainer of stayers.

“This horse was one of the first horses I bought for Darren. I purchased Atlantis Dream for Darren at the Festival Sale the year before, she is a Group 2 winner, and this horse was purchased in the second year I bought for him.

“The horses from New Zealand are very good, especially over middle distances. Australia doesn’t breed stayers which New Zealand does. New Zealand has good sires that produce quality stayers including Pentire, as well as some really nice up and coming sires.”

A winner of 7 of his 24 starts, the six-year-old gelding has amassed over A$4.2 million in prizemoney, which is 84 times his purchase price, for connections Galadi, Mr A McGregor, Dalton Racing, Men In Hats, Winning Five, Wilawl Go Racing and Mr AT Broadfoot.

Bred by John Thompson’s Rich Hill Thoroughbreds and Jungle Pocket Pty, Prince of Penzance is out of Royal Successor (Mr. Prospector). His granddam, Only Royale (Caerleon), was a dual Group 1 winner with the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks among her victories.

Prince of Penzance is by Rich Hill Stud stallion Pentire, the sire of 13 Group 1 winners now. Pentire has left Group 1 winners from 1200m through to 3200m. Prince of Penzance’s Melbourne Cup is the single biggest race won by the progeny of Pentire but he is also the sire of 10-time Group 1 winner Mufhasa (NZ).

Rich Hill Stud has a full-brother to Prince of Penzance entered in the 2015 Karaka Premier Sale.

The Melbourne Spring Carnival has been fruitful for New Zealand Bloodstock graduates with Mongolian Khan (Holy Roman Emperor) winning the Group 1 Caulfield Cup, Tarzino (NZ) (Tavistock) winning the Group 1 Victoria Derby along with Prince of Penzance’s triumph in the Group 1 Melbourne Cup.

Kiwi bred or sold horses similarly dominated the Sydney Autumn Carnival this year, winning half of the Group 1 races at The Championships through Mongolian Khan, Kermadec (NZ) (Teofilo), Gust of Wind (NZ) (Darci Brahma) and Criterion (NZ) (Sebring).

A second graduate of New Zealand Bloodstock’s Karaka Premier Sale won at Flemington yesterday with Sea Lord (Street Cry) winning the A$150,000 Listed MSS Security Sprint (1200m).