Riverdene Stud stallion Kaphero has an exciting new prospect representing him on Victorian tracks in the form of Wise Hero, a very lightly-raced 3-year-old gelding trained at Cranbourne by John Price.
In his first two starts to date, Wise Hero has won an 1100-metre Maiden Plate at Moe on debut, quickly followed by an impressive 1200-metre victory at Moonee Valley in which the untapped talent came away from his Melbourne metropolitan opposition in the style of horse with bigger and better wins in store.
Wise Hero's initial two outings have seen the son of
Kaphero score by a collective six lengths and return his connections some in
$84,470 in prizemoney and bonuses. He's also left the impression that there's a
great more expected to follow from this progressive newcomer.
Wise Hero supplied Price with his first city success in Melbourne and the trainer is full of belief in his potential stable star.
"He's a special horse," declared Price after his Moonee Valley victory. "I believe he's still somewhat untapped and can improve. I've been lucky enough to have a few nice horses over the years gone by, but for this to be just his second run [and win] on a Saturday in Victoria, it's a pretty good effort.
Price added: "I think there's a bit more to come. I'm very keen to get him to the paddock because he's an extremely late foal, but there's a nice race very similar to this at Flemington in a fortnight. We'll just see how he holds up. We'll try and get him there and I'm fairly certain that'll be the end of his campaign."
Wise Hero was a mid-November foal and was actually yet to turn 3 years-of-age in terms of calendar months when recording his debut success in a 3YO Maiden Plate at Moe on the 11th of last month. Significantly, he was therefore conceived by means of a very unfashionable mid-December covering.
Though many breeders no longer give thought to having mares covered so late in the season, Wise Hero is not the only above-average member of Kaphero's racing stock to have been conceived in December and born in November the following season.
Fellow Moonee Valley winner Secret Blend (10/11/11), six-time Tasmania winner Manchero (16/11/11), and even the Morphettville juvenile winner Cool Hero (3/11/11) are all examples of a late season covering by Kaphero that has now also been responsible for Wise Hero (12/11/13) — arguably the most promising winner seen on any metropolitan program last weekend.
For any breeders thinking that December is too late to breed a mare, the emergence of Wise Hero might suggest otherwise.
