What You Wish For (NZ) Heads Karaka 1-2 in Kaimai

Karaka graduates filled the quinella in Saturday’s $100,000 Listed Matamata Veterinary Services Kaimai Stakes (2000m) at Matamata, headed by first-time stakes winner What You Wish For (NZ) (Embellish).

Offered by breeders Cambridge Stud in Book 1 of Karaka 2022, What You Wish For was bought by Te Akau Racing’s David Ellis for $60,000. He has recorded four wins and six placings from 17 starts, earning $207,890.

The runner-up on Saturday was last-start Group Three Wellington Cup (3200m) hero Wolfgang (NZ) (Puccini). Passed in at Karaka 2020 with a $50,000 reserve, Wolfgang has now earned $569,417 from a 43-start, seven-win career.

What You Wish For has always shown promise in the Te Akau tangerine, winning impressively in maiden company in his second start as an autumn two-year-old. He went winless at three, but placed on four occasions including a third in the Group Two Waikato Guineas (2000m). He also ran fourth in the Group Two Sarten Memorial (1400m) and sixth in the Group One New Zealand Derby (2400m).

After two smart wins from his first three starts as a four-year-old, What You Wish For stepped back into stakes class with close-up finishes in ninth in the Group Three J Swap Sprint (1400m), eighth in the Group Two Rich Hill Mile (1600m) and sixth in the $1m Listed Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic (1600m).

The step up to 2000 metres on Saturday looked ideal for the talented four-year-old, and so it proved. After settling in a handy position just behind a sedate tempo, What You Wish For and jockey Craig Grylls drew up alongside the leaders at the top of the straight.

What You Wish For quickened and strode to the front, then turned back a strong challenge from Wolfgang through the final 200 metres to win by a long head.

“He hasn’t been beginning that great in his recent runs,” Grylls said. “The plan was to be midfield, but this time he absolutely flew out of the gates. I took the opportunity to come across and get into the trail.

“It was a real slack tempo. He was on the steel all the way. Once he was presented in the straight, he travelled up really strongly.

“He was probably aided by the second horse, because once he came up alongside him, it made him find more and more. It was a great run.”

What You Wish For is trained locally at Matamata by Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson.

“He’s always promised a lot,” Walker said. “We actually sprinted him up over 400 metres this morning, which got him thinking a little bit. You wouldn’t want to play cards with this horse, but it was good to get the win today.”

What You Wish For became the fourth individual stakes winner for Cambridge Stud stallion Embellish (NZ), joining Hitabell (NZ), Luberon (NZ) and Bold Soul (NZ).

Embellish was himself a Karaka graduate, bought by David Ellis for $775,000 from Waikato Stud’s draft at the 2016 Premier Sale. He won the Group One New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) before joining the stallion roster at Cambridge Stud, where he stands for a service fee of $5,000 and has sired 29 winners from 73 runners.

“With the stock of Embellish, I think you’ve just got to have a little bit of patience with them,” Walker said. “He’s an under-rated sire. If you’re patient and you take your time with them and nurse them along, they can be very good four-year-olds and five-year-olds.”

Vendor	Cambridge Stud
Purchaser	Mr DC Ellis (Te Akau)
Breeding	Embellish – Grand Wish
Sale	Lot 287, Karaka 2022 Book 1, $60,000
Bred by	B J Lindsay MNZM & Mrs J E A Lindsay