Stakes Breakthrough for Karaka Graduate Charmont

Charmont (High Chaparral), who was passed in at the 2013 Premier Sale, snapped a long line of stakes placings with her first black-type win in Monday’s $50,000 Listed Te Power Rapa Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) at Tauherenikua.

Charmont is a granddaughter of the Group 1 winner and Melbourne Cup runner-up Champagne (NZ) (Zabeel). Bred by Champagne’s owner Bob Emery, Charmont was offered at Karaka four years ago but fell $10,000 short of her $250,000 reserve.

Retained by Emery and racing in his colours, Charmont has demonstrated her class with superb performances to place in six stakes races – the Group 1 New Zealand Oaks, plus two Group 2 races and three Group 3s. But she had never won one. She emphatically broke that drought on Monday.

Ridden by Michael Coleman for trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, the five-year-old overcame a wide run and sprinted to the lead at the top of the straight. The result was quickly put beyond doubt as she dashed away to win by three and a quarter lengths.

“She’s been racing in good fields all the way through and been the bridesmaid a number of times so it’s nice to get one,” Coleman said. “She put them to bed pretty quickly and held a strong gallop to the line.”

Charmont has now had 22 starts for three wins, 11 placings and more than $162,000 in stakes.

The Breeders’ Stakes runner-up She Knows (NZ) (Pins) is also a Karaka graduate, bought by trainer Shane Brown for just $19,000 at the 2013 Select Sale. She has had 23 starts for two wins, eight placings and more than $46,000 in prize-money.