Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)
By Richard Edmunds, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
Overlooked in the lead-up to Saturday’s Gr.2 Happy Hire Wakefield Challenge Stakes (1100m) at Trentham, Intention burst out of the shadows of her higher-rated rivals and scored an impressive upset win.
The $175,000 feature was only the second start for the Awapuni filly, who finished fourth on debut at Otaki on November 28 after jumping awkwardly from the starting gates and then bucking in the early part of the race.
Carrying the blue and white colours of Tineke Balcombe’s In To Win Syndication, Intention headed down to the start on Saturday as a $17 outsider among a five-horse field of two-year-olds in the Wakefield. But her performance made a mockery of those odds.
Intention’s rider Tina Comignaghi was in no hurry in the early stages of the Wakefield and settled in fourth as the unbeaten Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained fillies Cool Aza Rene and Marokopa Falls set the pace.
Landlock kicked through on the inside of that pair at the crossing on to the course proper, hitting the front at the top of the home straight. Cool Aza Rene and Marokopa Falls were soon put under pressure by their riders and struggled to stay with the leader, but just when it looked like Landlock might have pinched a winning break, Intention joined the fray.
She quickened stylishly through a big gap one off the rail, moving up alongside Landlock with 200m remaining and throwing down a fierce challenge. Landlock was in for the fight, but Intention slowly but surely edged ahead of him to win by half a length. Landlock crossed the finish line a length and three-quarters in front of the third-placed favourite Marokopa Falls.
“I’ve always thought a lot of her, and I decided to line her up on debut without a trial,” winning trainer Mike Breslin said. “Things didn’t work out well for her that day, but she’s just done so well since then. She’s improved hugely. Her trackwork has been fantastic.
“I wouldn’t have run her in a race like this if I thought she was out of her grade. I was expecting a big run, and we got it.
“It’s great for Tineke and In To Win. We didn’t buy her for very much at the sales, and a filly like her is really important for Tineke and her syndication business.”
Saturday’s win prompted the TAB to cut Intention from $41 into $14 for the TAB Karaka Millions 2YO (1200m) at Ellerslie on January 25.
“We’ll take her home now and give her a few days in the paddock,” Breslin said. “We’ve got the Karaka Millions there as an option. I’m not sure yet how we’ll get her there, but we’ll see how she goes from here.”
Intention’s Wakefield performance made a big impression on Comignaghi, who was riding her for the first time.
“I thought she might be a bit green after that debut run, but she was a real professional today,” she said. “She finished it off very strongly from off the pace. She’s a lovely filly and takes everything in her stride, so I think she’ll only improve.”
Intention was bred by the Hawkins family’s Llanhennock Trust and offered under their Wentwood Grange banner during Book 1 of Karaka 2024. She was a $65,000 purchase by Breslin and In To Win. Intention comes from the first crop of Godolphin’s multiple Group One-winning sprinter Bivouac, while her dam Bella Hudood is an unraced daughter of champion sire Snitzel.
Intention has now earned $102,625 from her two-race career, which puts her clearly at the top of the Karaka Millions order of entry. Saturday’s runner-up Landlock now holds second spot with $57,375.
Interestingly, the first three winners at Trentham on Saturday carried Wentwood’s brand of the Prince of Wales feathers. They were Scotch Bonnet in Marsh Insurance 1400, Komocean in The Breeze Wellington 3YO 1200 and Intention.
– LOVERACING.NZ News Desk.
