Buoyant (NZ) Goes Back to Back

Offered for a reserve of only $3000 at the 2019 Karaka May Sale, star Southland sprinter Buoyant (NZ) (Dalghar) is now a two-time stakes winner and set to strut his stuff across the Tasman. 

The four-year-old added Monday’s $65,000 Listed Property Brokers Hazlett Stakes (1200m) to his last-start success in the Group Three Stewards’ Stakes (1200m) at Riccarton, and he has now had 16 starts for six wins, four placings and $190,540 in stakes – more than 63 times his reserve at Karaka.

Buoyant was sent out as a hot favourite at Wingatui on Boxing Day and lived up to those high expectations, settling in third before jockey Corey Campbell asked him to quicken in the straight. He worked through his gears and hit top flight inside the last 200 metres, taking the lead and going clear to score by three-quarters of a length.

The chestnut gelding is trained and part-owned by Sabin Kirkland, who has enjoyed outstanding success with relatively small numbers from his Ascot Park base.

“Today was a really lovely follow-up to what he did in the Stewards’ Stakes at Riccarton last month,” Kirkland said. “He’s managed to come out and run 1:10.31 on a soft track and win pretty impressively, so he’s done everything we could have asked for.

“He started the season in Rating 75 races, and I’m absolutely stoked with the progress the horse has made this season. He’s also caught the eye of some Australians who are coming into the ownership. They’re really keen to get him over there and give him a chance in a race like the Newmarket Handicap (Group One, 1200m) at Flemington in March, which is pretty exciting.”

Last season’s running of the Newmarket Handicap was also won by a horse that was passed in at Karaka. Star sprinting mare Roch ‘N’ Horse (NZ) (Per Incanto), who is now a dual Group One winner in Melbourne, was offered with a $40,000 reserve during Book 2 of Karaka 2018.