Trio of Horses to Compete for NZB’s $40,000 Southern Bonus

New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2013 Southern Bonus Race is set to jump tomorrow at Riccarton, with the $20,000 Open Three-Year-Old event attracting a field of 14 horses, and three horses that are eligible to compete for NZB’s $40,000 Bonus.

Connections of 2012 Southern Bonus Race Winner Kosalot.

The race is open to all three-year-olds, with Southern Bonus eligible runners getting preferred entry into the race. The race is run over 1400m at Riccarton Park on the undercard to the Group 2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile.

The $40,000 Southern Bonus is for eligible horses that were nominated for the incentive when purchased at the 2012 South Island Sale of 2YOs. The Bonus is certain to be struck tomorrow, as the connections of the first eligible horse past the post are set to collect the $40,000 on top of their share of the $20,000 prize purse.

The owner(s) of the successful horse will gain the lion’s share of the Bonus with $30,000 paid to the owner, $5,000 to the successful trainer, and $5,000 for the vendor (i.e. the owner of the successful horse at the Sale).

The first of the three runners eligible for the $40,000 Bonus is the Ellis Winsloe trained Our Castle (NZ) (Castledale). The son of Castledale was placed third on his racetrack debut, beaten less than three lengths on that occasion.  The three-year-old gelding has now had three starts and will have the services of leading South Island rider Chris Johnson from barrier 9.

Also vying for the Bonus will be Penultimate (NZ) (Pentire), trained by Ross Becket. The son of leading New Zealand sire Pentire has only had one raceday appearance, finishing ninth at Motukarara.

The run is better than it appears on face value with the horse only beaten 3.6 lengths and battling on well after racing ungenerously in the early stages of the race. Leading North Island rider Danielle Johnson will take the mount and if she is able to settle the horse in the early stages the gelding could run an improved race.

The horse likely to be the most favoured out of trio eligible for the Bonus is Hell Raiser (NZ) (Any Suggestion), trained by Steven Prince. The Any Suggestion filly has had two starts in her short career, running fourth on debut after receiving bad luck during the running and was then runner-up on 5 November after leading and being run down late in the piece.

Former South Island jockey Daniel Stackhouse returns from Australia to ride the filly - where he has become an established rider in Victoria - but has to overcome the outside barrier draw of 14 from the 1400m starting point.

The field has attracted only one three-year-old that has been successful on raceday and outside of Our Castle and Hell Raiser there are only four other runners that have placed leaving the race wide open.

Last year saw Kostalot (NZ) (Any Suggestion) seize the inaugural Southern Bonus with his second placing in the race but the first eligible horse past the post. The promising gelding has won three races in his short career now.

To view the full field for the New Zealand Bloodstock Southern Bonus Three-Year-Old, click here.