Danger Strykes (NZ) Claims Castletown

With an impressive performance in Saturday’s $50,000 Listed John Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes (1200m) at Whanganui, exciting talent Danger Strykes (NZ) (Astern) became the eighth individual stakes winner this season to come out of Karaka 2020. 

Passed in with a $50,000 reserve as part of Wentwood Grange’s Book 1 draft, Danger Strykes has now had two starts for a win and a placing, earning $27,700 in stakes and valuable black type for her pedigree page.

She joins a Karaka 2020 stakes-winning group that also features Group One Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and $1m Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) hero On the Bubbles (Brazen Beau), along with Listed winners Atullibigeal (Street Boss), Avonallo (NZ) (Belardo), Brix (NZ) (Sweynesse), Lady Maroal (NZ) (Power), Turn the Ace (NZ) (Turn Me Loose) and the undefeated Sydney Listed winner Tilianam (NZ) (Savabeel). Another 11 graduates of Karaka 2020 have been stakes-placed as two-year-olds this season.

Danger Strykes made a promising start to her career with a placing at Te Aroha in February, and then Cambridge trainer Tony Pike gave her a few months on the sidelines to strengthen and mature.

She returned to action in outstanding style on Saturday, sitting in a close fourth behind the front-running Taoiseach (NZ) (Highly Recommended) before angling off his heels into clear air at the top of the straight. When jockey Ryan Elliott released the brakes, Danger Strykes quickened smartly and burst to the lead with less than 200 metres to run.

A late challenge came from the strong-finishing Ima Roca Bee (NZ) (El Roca), but Danger Strykes held on strongly to win by a neck.

“She is a filly we have always liked and she did the job nicely today,” Pike told NZ Racing Desk.

“We were very confident she could win. She had gone a nice race back in February when she ran third on debut – she was still a very weak filly at that stage. We put her aside and she has really strengthened up nicely.

“I gave her a trial at home last month, which she won quite comfortably, and I thought she had trained on well since then.

“She was still a little green today. She pricked her ears when she hit the front and started gawking around. I don’t think she liked the track that much either – she was dipping and diving. So she can go out again now, and we will bring her back for some of those early spring three-year-old filly features.”

Danger Strykes is the first foal out of the stakes-placed She is Stryking (Stryker), who ended her racing career with her sale for $17,500 at the 2017 National Weanling, Broodmare and Mixed Bloodstock Sale at Karaka. She then returned for the Karaka May Sale again the following year, where she was sold to Mulcaster Bloodstock for $70,000.