Cross Tasman overcomes wide run for tough Randwick win

Progressive New Zealand-bred gelding Cross Tasman (NZ) (Super Seth) overcame a taxing run to record the fifth and most impressive win of his career in the A$160,000 HKJC World Pool Handicap (1400m) on Everest Day at Randwick.

Sent out as a $2.15 favourite for Saturday’s Benchmark 88 handicap on the strength of eye-catching placings in both of his previous starts in this campaign, Cross Tasman was trapped four-wide from barrier 10 and covered plenty of extra ground throughout the race.

Despite that energy-sapping trip, Cross Tasman loomed on the outside of the leaders at the home turn and was able to quicken in the straight. Jockey Zac Lloyd drove the son of Super Seth clear through the closing stages, going on to win by a length and three-quarters.

“I didn’t give him much of a steer, but the blinkers helped, and he was too good for them,” Lloyd said. “He’s going well.”

Trained by John O’Shea and Tom Charlton, Cross Tasman has now had 12 starts for five wins, six placings and A$392,825 in stakes.

Charlton has identified the A$750,000 Little Dance (1600m) at Randwick on November 3 as a likely target.

“He is qualified for the Little Dance on Cup Day, having placed in the Goulburn Cup (1400m) first-up, and that would seem a logical route for him,” Charlton said.

“The Five Diamonds (1800m) is not out of the realms of possibility as well. It would be a five-day back-up, but it’s something we’ll have in the back of our mind as well.”

Bred by Waikato Stud, Cross Tasman is by Super Seth out of the versatile triple Group One winner Daffodil (NZ), whose elite-level victories included an Australian Oaks (2400m) and New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m).

O’Shea went to $260,000 to secure Cross Tasman in partnership with Suman Hedge Bloodstock from the draft of Waikato Stud at the 2023 New Zealand Bloodstock Book 1 Yearling Sale.