Navy Dreams up to the East Coast Challenge

The connections of Navy Dreams (NZ) (Merchant Navy) were handsomely rewarded at Hastings on Saturday when he snared the lion’s share of the $100,000 purse on offer in the inaugural Vet Services East Coast Challenge Final (1400m).

While still a maiden heading into the weekend, the four-year-old son of Merchant Navy showed plenty of promise as a youngster for former trainer Barry Donoghue, finishing runner-up in the Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary (1400m) as a juvenile before running fourth in both the Gr.2 Avondale Guineas (2100m) and Gr.3 Manawatu Classic (2100m) last season.

Navy Dreams was subsequently transferred to the care of Stephen Marsh at the start of the season, and the Cambridge conditioner earmarked the lucrative East Coast Challenge series with the gelding, lining him up in a qualifying heat at Hastings a fortnight ago, with his runner-up result securing him a berth in Saturday’s final.

Jockey Matt Cartwirght gave Navy Dreams a gun run in the one-one before presenting him three-wide at the turn where he gobbled up the frontrunners and dashed away to a 2-3/4 length victory over Star Donna, with 1-1/2 lengths back to Smackers in third.

Cartwright, the regular rider of star mare Well Written, has been aboard Navy Dreams in his last two starts and said he has a lot of potential.

“He has got a long way to go but it felt like I was on Well Written. He won easy,” Cartwright said. “He was floating in front a bit, but honestly, I don’t know why he wasn’t shorter, he was the best placed horse in New Zealand in recent months. He was in well at the weights, he is a good horse, and he made a mess of them. He is a nice horse and he is going to go on with it.”

Marsh was full of praise for Cartwright’s ride and he was glad to reward his owner, Raptors Thoroughbred, for their support.

“It’s a great way to break a maiden, a $100,000 race,” Marsh said. “I thought the ride by Matt was 11 out of 10.

“We saw the race a fair while ago. He was rated 65 when we got him as a maiden who was stakes placed, so we thought if we can come down here and have a look at the Bay (for the heat), he ran second, which was automatic entry, and he came back two weeks later. He is a big-barrelled horse, so he is always going to take a couple of trips, and stepping up from the 1300m to the 1400m was ideal.

“Raptors Thoroughbred, Steven and Jessica, they follow their horses all around the country, and they are big supporters of ours, so it is great for this horse to win today.”

The stable continued their winning momentum into the following race, the Thomson’s Suits 3YO (1400m), which was taken out by Go Racing’s stakes placed filly So Fear (NZ) (Ardrossan).