Written Tycoon Filly Wins Highly Anticipated 2YO Stakes Clash

Media Release - Saturday November 25

Almost all of the spring’s brightest two-year-old talent gathered at Pukekohe on Saturday for New Zealand’s first black-type juvenile race of the season, but it was the unbeaten filly Velocious who soared above her contemporaries and dominated the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m).

Velocious powers clear in the Listed Counties Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Pukekohe on Saturday. Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)

The $65,000 feature attracted a field of only five, but four of them had already been highly impressive winners. Velocious scored on debut at Te Rapa two weeks ago, while Poetic Champion and Savaglee had scored breathtaking debut wins by six and four lengths respectively. Bellatrix Star won the first two-year-old race of the season at Wanganui in September and had subsequently placed behind Velocious at Te Rapa.

The Challenge Stakes was by far the biggest clash of the two-year-old season so far, and an early opportunity to see how these visually impressive winners stacked up against one another. Go Racing’s rising star Velocious provided an emphatic answer.

The Written Tycoon filly was ridden by Sam Spratt and took up a position in third place along the rail. Savaglee and Poetic Champion both showed plenty of early speed in the first 200m, with Savaglee spearing forward from the outside gate and taking the lead into the first turn.

But the brakes went on coming down the side of the track, and Velocious was moving forward and breathing down the necks of the leaders with nowhere to go.

By the time she was able to get across heels and into clear air out wide on the track, the sprint was on with only 200m remaining. But Velocious accelerated brilliantly and swept past Poetic Champion, Bellatrix Star and Savaglee, clearing out to win by a length and a half.

Advertisement

“They eased up a little bit as the race went on, and I was a bit worried that they might kick away at the corner,” Spratt said. “But she was pretty impressive last time without me having to ask her to do much, so I was fairly confident that she’d find the line again today.

“She’s a really nice filly. I think she’s going to be even better as a three-year-old and later. What she’s doing now, I think she’s just doing it on ability and class.”

Go Racing and Stephen Marsh went one better on Saturday than they did in 2012, when their filly Ruud Awakening finished second behind Bounding in this race. She won all of her next three starts, including the Karaka Million (1200m) and the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes (1200m), and was named the season’s champion two-year-old.

“You’d have to start thinking about the Ruud Awakening comparisons after that performance,” Marsh said. “She looked awesome today.

“There wasn’t as much early speed as I thought there would be. We got back in the trail, and then they’ve really walked them.

“We had to come across their heels, and I thought they might be hard to get past after they had it pretty cheap in front. Jeez, to her credit, she knuckled down. She’s won really well in the end. That was smart – very smart.”

Going into Saturday’s race, the TAB rated Savaglee a $5 favourite for the Karaka Millions 2YO at Ellerslie in late January, with Poetic Champion and Velocious sharing second favouritism at $7. Velocious is now a clear market leader at $3, with Bellatrix Star at $8 and Poetic Champion moving out to $10.

“She can have a little break now and we’ll just set her for the Karaka Millions,” Marsh said. “She’s beautifully bred and a stakes winner now, so it’s all ahead of her.

“She’ll have another run between now and then, but whether that’s New Year’s Day or somewhere else, we’ll decide a bit closer to the time. As long as we get her to the Karaka Millions in tip-top form, we’ll be all right.”

The 57th stakes-winner for Yulong's champion sire Written Tycoon, Velocious was bred by Inglewood Stud, who offered her in their Book 1 draft at Karaka earlier this year. She was bought by Go Racing for $190,000.

Breednet's new Family Search throws up an entry at Magic Millions from the same family in Lot 162 to be offered by Mill Park, a colt by Flying Artie from Sensualism.

Velocious was a $190,000 Karaka Book 1 purchase.

From two starts, Velocious has now had two wins and over $86,000 in stakes, with the promise of much more to come.

“Though the last decade or so, we’ve focused quite a lot on getting staying types of horses to race in Australia,” Go Racing manager Albert Bosma said. “We had a chat last year and said that we needed to try to buy horses for the Karaka Millions as well. This filly was one of the ones that we bought, and what she’s done so far is great for everyone involved.

“It’s been a fantastic effort from Stephen Marsh. He trained Ruud Awakening for us all those years ago, and we can’t wait to see if he can do it again.

“It’s very exciting to have such a live chance for the Karaka Millions. That’s our biggest raceday, with three of our biggest races on one card. If you can perform on that stage, I don’t think you can do much better than that in New Zealand.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk.

Visit the profile page for Written tycoon

Written tycoon in upcoming sales:
Advertisment

Race Result - Counties Challenge Stakes LR 1100m

Pukekohe Park Track: Good(4) Time: 1:04.44
1
Velocious
- 2f Written Tycoon (AUS) x Parmalove (AUS) (Snitzel (AUS))
Tnr: S B Marsh Rdr: S C Spratt 55
2
1.5
Bellatrix Star
- 2f Star Witness (AUS) x Alana's Party (AUS) (Exceed And Excel (AUS))
Tnr: Mark Walker & Sam Bergerson Rdr: M Cameron 55
Star Witness
3
2.3
Poetic Champion
- 2g Super Seth (AUS) x Regally Blonde (AUS) (Royal Academy (USA))
Tnr: A W Pike Rdr: K Asano 57
4
4.8
Macaluso
- 2f Savabeel (AUS) x Chiaretta (NZ) (Makfi (GB))
Tnr: Andrew Forsman Rdr: M Hashizume 55
5
5
Savaglee
- 2c Savabeel (AUS) x Glee (NZ) (O'reilly (NZ))
Tnr: M Moroney & P Gerard Rdr: M J Mc Nab 57
More Reading...
Rosemont and Partners Stakes Quinella on Cup Day
Written Tycoon posted his second new stakes-winner on Melbourne Cup Day when promising three year-old gelding Catoggio took out the Listed VRC Amanda Elliot Stakes (1400m)  for Rosemont Stud and partners, who also race the second horse Bosustow.
More Stakes Success for Air Assault
Group I placed last season in the SA Derby, talented gelding Air Assault kept the winning run going for Victoria Derby winning trainer Andrew Gluyas when taking out the Listed SAJC John Letts Cup (1800m) at Morphettville on Melbourne Cup Day.
El Vencedor wins G3 Balmerino Stakes
El Vencedor is making a habit of picking up major victories at Ellerslie, adding the Gr.3 Balmerino Stakes (2000m) to his burgeoning record at Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup Day meeting.
Knights Choice a True Underdog Story
Punters were left stunned when the Queenslander Knight's Choice and Japanese visitor Warp Speed (JPN) emerged from the pack to fight out a dramatic finish to the $8,560,000 Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington.
Kiwi Bred Gringotts Wins $3million Big Dance
Talented New Zealand-bred gelding Gringotts(NZ) (Per Incanto) delivered a big payday for his connections with victory in Tuesday’s A$3 million Big Dance (1600m) at Randwick.
Karaka Million Goal for Written Tycoon Filly
Debutant Velocious lived up to her name when she downed a handy field of juveniles in the first race at Te Rapa on Saturday.
Melbourne Cup Winner for Extreme Choice – Rare Slice of History
This year’s $8.5million Group I VRC Melbourne Cup (3200m) produced a genuinely amazing fairytale result for the connections of five year-old Extreme Choice gelding Knight’s Choice, but part of that fairytale is his sire Extreme Choice, who has carved out something seriously special as being only the second sire in history to produce the winner of a Golden Slipper and a Melbourne Cup.
Coolmore Announce Euro 2025 Fees
Coolmore have announced fees for their 20 strong European sire roster with three new additions City of Troy (Justify), Auguste Rodin (Deep Impact)and Henry Longfellow (Dubawi) and a significant increase for Wootton Bassett, who is currently in Australia.
Sires With Winners - Tuesday November 5
Here is the full list of 145 stallions which had winners throughout Australasia today with winners and result details.
2024 Melbourne Cup Result - It's Knights Choice
The 2024 Melbourne Cup has been run and won with Knight’s Choice, a five-year-old gelding by Extreme Choice victorious.