Bosma gearing up for big week ahead
Go Racing to have pair of contenders in Thorndon Mile before exciting Velocious goes gunning for Million glory
Tomorrow’s Trentham meeting could prove to be a red-letter day for Albert Bosma and his Auckland-based syndicate Go Racing when they send out a pair of contenders in the feature Thorndon Mile (Gr 1, 1600m) on the ten-race card.
Bosma will watch his silks be carried by both Skyman (Mukhadram) and Diss Is Dramatic (Dissident) in the 1600-metre contest, with the former aiming to make a winning debut for Cambridge-based trainer Stephen Marsh and the latter having her first start in elite-level company since finishing 12th in the 2022 running of the New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m),
Formerly based in Australia with Chris Waller, Skyman, a four-time Listed scorer, showed his well-being for his new yard with a close third behind dual Group 1 winner Legarto (Proisir) in an 1100-metre trial at Tauranga on January 2, beaten just a neck at the line.
“We were very pleased, it was a good trial,” Bosma told ANZ Bloodstock News yesterday. “The winner of that trial was Legarto and he wasn’t put under a lot of pressure in it.
“Since then he went for an exhibition gallop at Matamata last Wednesday so he’s had that extra bit of work and that has brought him on nicely for tomorrow.”
The son of Mukhadram (Shamardal) will be having his first start at the elite level as he aims to bounce back from a disappointing tenth in The Gong (1600m) at Kembla Grange on November 25.
Skyman will carry 56 kilograms in tomorrow’s set weights and penalties contest, despite being a four-time winner at stakes level, and Bosma feels the gelding could have been let in lightly.
“A lot of the reason that we targeted this race was that he gets in very nicely at the weights,” Bosma said.
“He’s a Listed winner and this is set weights and penalties, not weight-for-age, so he gets in very well with 56 kilos.
“For a horse that has performed as well as he has and does, it is a huge advantage to be able to carry that weight in a race like this.
“We think he has a winning chance and we certainly think he should be running in the top four or five.”
Last season’s Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership winner Daniel Stackhouse will fly in to ride Skyman, with the pair jumping from barrier eight in the 14-runner field.
“He’s got a slightly awkward draw in the middle of the pack, but Daniel Stackhouse has come over from Melbourne and he’ll have to make some decisions early on about where to place him,” Bosma said.
A 42,000gns buy from the 2019 Tattersalls Autumn Horses-in-Training Sale having won once in eight starts for Roger Charlton in the UK, Skyman has emphatically surpassed the expectations of Bosma, although the syndicator did reveal he was confident of the gelding making stakes grade before his move Down Under.
“When they make $1.1 million dollars in their career, you’re very happy,” he said.
“We thought his form was very good and we thought the horses he’d been running against were good ones. So, we were confident that he’d be a stakes-level horse in Australia.
“I guess the only real surprise for us was the amount we were able to buy him for! We thought he’d make a bit more than he did.
“He was just one of those horses that, fortunately for us, slipped through the cracks.”
As for Skyman’s future in New Zealand, Bosma is expecting the gelding to remain competitive at the top level beyond tomorrow’s assignment, with both the Herbie Dyke Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Te Rapa on February 10 and the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m) at Ellerslie on March 9 on the agenda.
“There are some good horses in New Zealand, but the depth isn’t there [at Group 1 level],” Bosma said.
“He may come up against two or three that are very good but after that it tends to fall away slightly.
“After this weekend he’ll go for the Herbie Dyke Stakes at Te Rapa before then heading to the weight-for-age Group 1 at Ellerslie over 2000 metres during [Auckland] Cup week.
“He will accumulate points for these three races and there’s a NZ$500,000 bonus for the horse with the most points at the end of it, so that’s our way of thinking.”
Bosma is also looking forward to the future that lies ahead with four-year-old mare Diss Is Dramatic as she prepares to line up against Skyman in tomorrow’s Group 1 contest.
Emulating Skyman, the purchase of Diss Is Dramatic has also proven itself to be money well spent, with the daughter of Dissident (Sebring) earning just shy of NZ$250,000 in prize-money to date, far outweighing her NZ$60,000 purchase price at Book 1 of the 2021 Karaka New Zealand Bloodstock Yearling Sale.
“She was a beautiful filly and she’s very well-bred on her dam’s side,” Bosma said.
“We bought her on that female-line basis, we felt the stallion was something of a punt at the time, but she’s proven to be a very good buy.
“She’s been a Listed winner at two and a Group 3 winner at both three and four, so she’s managed to keep that form in three seasons now and that is pretty impressive.”
Trained by Lisa Latta, the mare scored in the Thompson Handicap (Gr 3, 1600m) at Trentham on October 21, a race that Latta had previously won with Resonare (Centaine) (2000), Fercertain (Centaine) (2008), Jonbalena (Lord Ballina) (2009) and most recently in 2022 with He’s A Doozy (Zacinto), who went on to land last year’s Thorndon Mile just three starts later.
Following that Group 3 win, Diss Is Dramatic ran third in the Coupland’s Bakeries Mile (Gr 3, 1600m) on November 15, after which she was given a break before reappearing with a promising fourth in a 1400-metre handicap just a fortnight ago in preparation for tomorrow’s contest.
“Yeah absolutely,” Bosma said when asked if the mare was Group 1 class. “We were setting her up for the [New Zealand] Oaks last season and she ran some very nice races in the lead-up to the race and then unfortunately she got a virus and missed it.
“She has been very good at the mile trip but we actually feel she could be even better at 2000 metres, she hits the lines very strongly over the mile.
“I think her future will be stepping up in trip after this race, but where we go will depend on the result this weekend.”
Diss Is Dramatic has fared even worse in the draw than Skyman for tomorrow’s feature, landing barrier 13, and Bosma revealed she is likely to be ridden quietly by Sam Spratt.
“The draw is difficult in barrier 13 so she’ll probably have to be ridden off the pace in the hope of a good tempo,” he said.
“However, she loves Trentham and she had a warm-up run a couple of weeks ago which we were very happy with.
“She is a mare that has a very nice turn of foot and she has it all in front of her.”
The excitement for Bosma and Go Racing will not be finished following the running of tomorrow’s feature, with the hugely promising Velocious (Written Tycoon) primed to run a big race in next Saturday’s Karaka Million 2YO (RL, 1200m) at Ellerslie.
A daughter of Written Tycoon (Iglesia), who was acquired for NZ$190,000 at Book 1 of last year’s Karaka NZB Yearling Sale, Velocious won her first two starts, including the Counties Challenge Stakes (Listed, 1100m), before an eye-catching third in the Eclipse Stakes (Gr 2, 1200m) on New Year’s Day.
She currently heads the Million betting at odds of $3.20, with Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m)-winning jockey James McDonald jetting in for the ride.
“Velocious is on target for the Karaka Millions,” Bosma said.
“After she won her stakes race in November we decided to give her an extra week off, so she was probably only 85 per cent for the Eclipse Stakes.
“We were rapt with her performance as we weren’t expecting her to win the race, so to run as well as she did was great.
“She’s improved from that run and we have James McDonald coming over to ride her and that’s a big plus.
“Sam Spratt, who has ridden her in all three starts to date, has done a great job with her, but James is one of the very best in the world. She’ll be spot on for next weekend.”