Winning Return for Historian

Last season’s Group 1 Thorndon Mile winner Historian (NZ) (Choisir) returned from a spell in fine form with a narrow but decisive victory in the Group 3 $70,000 Tumu ITM Spring Sprint (1400m) at Hastings on Saturday.

Historian (NZ) taking out the Group 3 Tumu ITM Spring Sprint on Saturday.

The Gary Alton trained runner has had well documented soundness issues that saw him go to Hong Kong but never race after finishing second to Jimmy Choux in the Group 1 NZ Derby as a three-year-old.

The son of Choisir had to carrying 57.5kg with Matthew Cameron aboard and bounced out from the barriers to settle handy in the 14-horse field. He hit the front early in the straight and had to fight off the challenge of Neo (NZ) (One Cool Cat) who was carrying 4.5kgs less than him.

It looked as though Neo may have had the measure of Historian but the Cambridge galloper fought hard to the line to win by a nose, a courageous effort in his fresh state and under his weight.

“He is just such a good horse, he can do things that other horses can’t do,” explained Alton.

“We have had a quite a lot of trouble with his feet and we haven’t been able to do a lot with him until the last four weeks. He came right in that time and we could do what we wanted to do with him on the treadmill.

“He was as good as we could get him. When you’re not riding him and not having someone gallop him you are just trusting your judgement a bit but I thought he had done enough to go a good race.

“To be fair I thought he would go a good race but there were a few handy horses in the race who had a couple of runs under their belt that I thought might have been a bit fit for him but it was an amazing effort by the horse.

“I’d love to be able to put his heart into another horse when he is finished with it because that horse went to him and was going to run past him but he really dug deep.

“Our idea was to have a go at the Coupland Bakeries Mile but it depends on what happens with his rating - he was on a rating 98 before the race so we will see what he goes up to. He might be better suited to the weight-for-age races around Christmas time, maybe the Captain Cook Stakes but we will see what they do with his rating first.”

The six-year-old gelding has produced four wins from his 13 raceday appearances and has earned $592,425 for his owner Ngai Chun-Hung. He is by proven sire Choisir and is the first winner for his dam Cyclonic (Marauding).

Historian was bred by Bledisloe Bloodstock Ltd and sold at the 2009 Karaka Select Yearling Sale for $40,000, purchased by his owner Ngai Chun-Hung from Lyndhurst Farm.