Angels Halo upsets in NZ 1000 Guineas

Te Akau’s gun filly Asturia (NZ) (Almanzor) was the talk of the town heading into Saturday’s Gr.1 Barneswood Farm New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton, but it was fellow Waikato filly Angels Halo (NZ) (Proisir) who caused an upset to claim the southern Classic.

Angels Halo wasn’t in the calculations of many pundits for the 1000 Guineas, having finished eighth in the Gr.2 James & Annie Sarten Memorial (1400m) at Te Rapa on Labour Day, but trainer Hollie Elliot remained a believer and decided to continue with plans to head to Christchurch this week.

A gear change was made and spirits were boosted after the daughter of Proisir drew barrier two on Wednesday.

From her handy alley, Angels Halo was the first to cross to the fence and she settled in behind early leader So Fear (NZ) (Ardrossan), who quickly handed up to On Piste (NZ) (Ace High). Angels Halo enjoyed an economical trip and turning for home she got a nice run up along the rail and hit the lead with 300m to go. While Dashing Dixie (NZ) (Alabama Express) stormed home late, Angels Halo was able to see off her challenge to win by three quarters of a length, with a further 1-3/4 lengths back to Asturia in third.

Jockey Hashizume was beaming following the win and said the race wasn’t all plain sailing.

“She missed the jump with the first time with blinkers, but luckily I was barrier two, so I could recover very quickly,” he said. “It was a bit messy who was going to lead, but she settled in behind them nicely with the blinkers.

“She shied at the big screen, and I thought it was over and she had stopped running, so I was like ‘don’t stop, don’t stop’, and she was just tough.”

While Elliot has tasted Group One glory when previously training in partnership with Johno Benner, Saturday’s elite-level victory was the first in her own right.

Elliot admitted to being anxious leading into the race, but was euphoric following the victory, and she was delighted with Hashizume’s ride.

“I was actually really nervous today and I don’t get nervous very often,” she said.

“There has just been little things (this preparation), and that always happens when you go into big races, you are always going to have niggly little things.

“We put the tongue tie on her, and she didn’t really like it, so we thought we would take that off and put the blinkers on. She is a pretty laidback sort of filly and it has worked the oracle.

“Masa just gets on so well with my horses, he always rides them well and we seem to be building a really good partnership.

“I said to him just to ignore her last run and just stick with her and we will fix it.”

Fix it she did, and Hashizume was pleased he elected to stick with the ship.

“I can’t believe this,” he said. “Full credit to the horse and the trainer. She (Elliot) was a bit disappointed last time and was fifty-fifty of whether coming or not. I was getting another offer, so I was like ‘are we going or not?’

“Hollie was confident that she was going to run top three, so I stuck with her, which is what I was always going to do. She (Elliot) gave me a lot of confidence. She gave me a stakes winner last season and it’s just unbelievable.”