Opunake Cup Quinella for Gordon’s Karaka and Gavelhouse Graduates

Saturday’s $120,000 Listed AgFirst Engineering Opunake Cup (1400m) at New Plymouth delivered a dream result for Foxton trainer Suzy Gordon, who filled the quinella with two Karaka graduates she purchased on Gavelhouse.com.

The winter feature was won by Prioress (NZ) (Proisir), who was offered in Book 2 of Karaka 2020 and failed to meet her $30,000 reserve. She has now had 60 starts for seven wins, 20 placings and $300,322 in stakes.

Prioress was bred by Colin and Irene Thompson, who retained a share in the ownership after she was passed in at Karaka. She won four races and $146,320 in prize-money for her original connections before being placed on Gavelhouse.com in August of 2024, where Gordon bought her for $7,250.

Since then, Prioress has recorded another three wins and has more than doubled her career earnings. Gordon now shares ownership with Rex and Ann Dawkins, Linda Holt and Pauline and Todd McGuigan.

Prioress took her career to new heights with a first black-type success in Saturday’s Opunake Cup, where the runner-up was her stablemate and fellow Karaka and Gavelhouse.com graduate Turn The Ace (NZ) (Turn Me Loose).

Originally trained by Andrew Forsman, who bought him for $30,000 from Book 1 of Karaka 2020, Turn The Ace won nine races and more than $250,000 for his first set of connections. Gordon bought him for $9,750 on Gavelhouse.com in July of last year, and he has earned another $48,500 in stakes since then.

Gordon’s pair raced in contrasting styles in the Opunake Cup on Saturday. Turn The Ace was up and on the pace all the way and was part of a keenly contested battle for the lead. Prioress and jockey Masa Hashizume were biding their time back in third-last.

The torrid pace did nothing to stop Turn The Ace, who continued to fight hard all the way down the straight and rallied again after being headed by Chajaba (NZ) (Keano). But Prioress stormed home out wide and swept past them in the final few strides, snatching victory in a three-way photo finish.

“I’m a bit speechless,” Gordon said. “That would be my first stakes win – I haven’t had many runners in stakes races.

“Both horses were really well coming into this. Prioress was a good winner last week, and I know she loves a quick back-up. So I was really happy with both of them, but you never know what will happen.

“I was actually watching Liam (Kauri) on Turn The Ace, and I didn’t even know where the other one was. But she has a really good turn of foot when she gets everything right.

“Turn The Ace is a lovely horse too, we love him.

“I’m not sure where we’ll go with these two horses next – I haven’t even thought past today.”

The Opunake Cup was Hashizume’s first ride on Prioress.

“She jumped quite nicely today and I was following George Rooke on Thooza (NZ) (Almanzor), who was in a nice rhythm,” Hashizume said.

“I knew from the corner that I was going to run in the top three, and then every time I asked her, she gave me more and more. It was a good effort.

“The strong speed really helped and we had cover all the way. The rhythm of the race was perfect and she’s a nice horse.”

Vendor	Rich Hill Stud
Purchaser
Breeding	Proisir – Shahbab
Sale	Lot 843, Karaka 2020 Book 2, Psd (Res $30,000)
Breeder	C C E & Mrs I S Thompson
Owner	Rex & Ann Dawkins, Linda Holt, Pauline & Todd McGuigan, Suzy Gordon