12 Hours: 5 Wins - She Seals Black Type

In a remarkable 12 hours, Te Akau Racing recorded five wins - two in Victoria and three in New Zealand, including two stakes' race victories ... here's the second …

Given a lovely ride by Rory Hutchings, My Lips Are Sealed (5 m Ace High – Tellmeaboutit, by Tavistock) won the $120,000 Listed Lisa Chittick Champagne Stakes (1400m) on Saturday at Matamata.

Runner-up in the Group 3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) as a three-year-old, My Lips Are Sealed rounded out a terrific four-year-old season winning the Group 3 Phar Lap Trophy (1600m) at Trentham, and finished third in this race last year, when won by Group 1 Australian Guineas and four-time Group 1 winner Legarto (Proisir).

While rain during the preceding two days thwarted the chances of many, My Lips Are Sealed, whose grand-dam What Can I Say (Khozaam) was a noted performer on rain-affected going, remained undeterred by the Heavy9 track conditions.

Beginning well to lead, My Lips Are Sealed stayed at the head of affairs, appeared to travel best approaching the home turn, and remained unrelenting with a strong gallop to the line. 

“I was pretty confident going into the race that she would handle the track and her work on Tuesday was superb,” Hutchings said. “She flew the lids, nothing took us on, was in a good rhythm throughout, and she gave a good kick at the top of the straight.

“I think she suits most types of going now and she’s a mare in form that can go on with it.

“It really means something to me to win this race. I’m a Matamata boy, myself, and home for a few months (from Australia). I was racing mad as a kid growing up, and Matamata Breeders’ Stakes Day was always the main meeting you wanted to come to.

“So, to win on this day, on a Te Akau trained horse, in a race sponsored by the Chittick family, it really is an honour.”

My Lips Are Sealed ran 1400 metres in 1:27.3, last 600m in 38.2, and paid $20.60 & $4.50 on the NZ TAB tote.

“We had a disappointing spring with her, but we felt she was getting near her best after her track work last Thursday at Tauranga, and it just shows what good horses David (Ellis) buys,” said assistant trainer Reece Trumper. 

“She did race as a two-year-old, but was always the type to get better as she got older and we’ve seen her back to her best today. 

“We were very confident she would handle the track. I said to Sam (Bergerson) when she was in front, we’ll know how she’s going at the 600m, where she had them all off the nickel. She just had to keep up a strong gallop and she did.”

Trumper suggested My Lips Are Sealed could contest the $200,000 Group 3 Rydges Wellington Cuddle Stakes (1600m) on Saturday 1 March at Trentham. “She’s got a really good record over the mile at Wellington, so that looks ideal.

“Obviously, the team is working really hard. We’ve just bought a lot of yearlings at the sales. David and Karyn are working tirelessly to sell them, to make sure we have more quality horses coming through, so big thanks to them and we can’t be here without what they do for the industry.”

On course, Walker added: “It’s terrific to win the Lisa Chittick Stakes. Lisa was a very special friend of Te Akau’s, she was an amazing lady. Everyone misses her very much and it’s quite emotional to win the race again after first winning it with Imperatriz.

“She’d been a bit out of form, but great ride by Rory (Hutchings) and hopefully the win will give her confidence going forward.”

Owned by the Te Akau Not A Word Racing Partnership (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), My Lips Are Sealed was purchased as a yearling by David Ellis CNZM for $160,000 at the Karaka 2022 Book 1 Sale, from the draft of Rich Hill Stud. 

“It’s a proud day for Te Akau to win this race, named after one of the most wonderful women we've ever met,” Ellis said.

“It’s great to see the people here in the Waikato Stud winner’s circle to honour Lisa. Garry Chittick, a great racing administrator and stud master, his wife Mary, Mark and Pip Chittick, the boys George and Harry, and so many people that mean so much to the New Zealand racing industry and to me personally.

“Congratulations to her owners, which include All Blacks Sean and Bronwyn Fitzpatrick and Anton Lienert-Brown. She’s put another really good race on her CV, and the way she won suggests she’s going to be competitive heading into autumn.

“Your ownership and support mean so much to Te Akau. It enables us to keep the business going, keep young people like Sam and Reece involved in a sport and career they love, and to keep bolstering New Zealand racing, which is absolutely crucial to this country.”

My Lips Are Sealed was the first sales' representative by dual Group 1 winner Ace High, by Champion Sire and sire of sires High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells), out of a mare by dual Group 1 winning stallion Tavistock (Montjeu), who had a great turn of foot, and became a fantastic sire. 

Ace High won the Group 1 Victoria Derby (2500m) and Group 1 Spring Champion Stakes (2000m), giving My Lips Are Sealed first-class miler and staying appeal.

Appreciative of yielding ground, grand-dam What Can I Say (Khozaam) impressed winning among eight victories which included the Group 2 Warwick Farm Stakes (1400m), and in turn she became an incredible producer of 10 individual winners, notching 29 wins, including six stakes' wins, and over $1.5 million in prize money.

The family also includes a speed influence of Babylon Berlin (All Too Hard), who finished second to Te Akau trained Champion Two-Year-Old, now leading young sire, Sword of State (Snitzel) in the Group 3 King’s Plate (1200m), and subsequently won three Group Three races over 1200 metres and finished runner-up three times at Group One level. 

Accepting the Cup on behalf of the syndicate members, shareholder Tom Butler said: “This all started for me with Tokyo Tycoon and My Lips Are Sealed.

“I rang David thinking of buying into one horse, but he suggested splitting it to have an interest in a filly and a colt.

“Well, the colt ended up being the Karaka Millions' winner and Champion Two-Year-Old Tokyo Tycoon and My Lips Are Sealed has carried it on for us.

“And I also bought my wife a share in Out Of The Blue for her birthday and he won his first two and finished second today in the Group 3 Matamata Slipper, so we’re having a lot of fun.

“I’ve got the sash on my wall from when My Lips Are Sealed won the Group 3 Phar Lap Trophy at Trentham, and now I’ve got this Cup, so thank you very much to David (Ellis), it’s been marvellous.”

My Lips Are Sealed carries a lovely cross of Champion Sire and breed shaper Sadler’s Wells.

My Lips Are Sealed was strapped by Tamweer Alam. 

Photo credit - Kenton Wright - www.raceimages.co.nz