Second Stakes Win for Princess Kereru (NZ)

Saturday’s $50,000 Listed NZB Finance Sprint (1200m) at Hawke's Bay was another highlight in a sensational campaign for Princess Kereru (NZ) (Pins), who was passed in with a $40,000 reserve at the 2015 Select Sale at Karaka.

The Matamata mare began this season as the winner of three of her 16 starts, but since then she has become one of New Zealand’s standout sprinters.

She has added another four wins from nine starts in 2019-20, two of them at stakes level, and she was a close second in the $200,000 Group 1 Sistema Railway (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day.

Princess Kereru’s black-type breakthrough came in the $100,000 Group 3 Waikato Stud Plate (1200m) at Ellerslie in March, and at Hastings on Saturday she struck again.

After sitting in midfield behind a strong early pace, Princess Kereru rider Cameron Lammas turned her loose in the straight and she burst to the front in the middle of the track.

Endless Drama (Lope de Vega) and Cavallo Veloce (NZ) (O’Reilly) tried to go with her, but Princess Kereru was well clear and scored by a length and a quarter.

Princess Kereru has now had 25 starts for seven wins, eight placings and $253,125 in stakes – more than six times her reserve at Karaka. She is raced by her breeders, K R and R P Humphries, with the PR Partnership.

“She’s gone to another level this year,” co-trainer Ken Kelso said. “If you’d said to me last year she’d be doing this, I might have laughed at you.

“She’s always had the ability, but she’s really strengthened up this season.

“Temperament is a huge thing in this game and she’s got a great temperament – she just eats and sleeps. She’s just a little trooper.”

Te Runga Stud will offer a yearling half-brother to Princess Kereru at the 2019 Karaka May Sale. The colt by Shocking will go through the ring as Lot 156.