Awesome Abidewithme

Abidewithme (7 m Redoute's Choice - Crimson, by Zabeel) added further value to her future broodmare career with a terrific win in the $100,000 Preston Rowe Paterson Valuers Tauranga Stakes (Gr. 2, 1600m) on Saturday at Tauranga.

Already a Group Two weight-for-age winner of the Travis Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa, with Michael McNab aboard, it was McNab again that saw the special mare return to her best.

Content to settle last, Abidewithme always appeared to have the situation under control and when bounding up to lodge a claim widest on the track at the 200m it was with an air of confidence that suggested she had the measure of her seven rivals.

“There wasn't much first to last in the run and that's how Sir Patrick likes her ridden these days,” said Stephen Autridge, who co-trains the mare with Jamie Richards.

“She's a happy horse, in foal twenty-eight days today to Tavistock, looks the best she's ever looked and we believe she's racing and training the best she has as well."

Autridge said the hope for Abidewithme is to prepare well and hold her form ahead of the $200,000 Zabeel Classic (Gr. 1, 2000m) on Boxing Day at Ellerslie, while the Captain Cook Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m) could also be on the radar on 3 December at Trentham.

“We've got a few options but I don't think we'll be changing much with her style of racing and she's a few kilos heavier than she usually is so is doing really well,” Autridge said.

Abidewithme could hardly have produced a more pleasing fresh up third in the $30,000 Open 1400 metres on 22 October at Ellerslie, resuming off 175 days, after working stylishly through the line in a trial won by triple Group One winner Turn Me Loose (Iffraaj) at Avondale.

On rain-affected Dead6 footing, Abidewithme ran the mile in 1:38.6.

In the colours of breeders/owners Sir Patrick and Justine Lady Hogan, Abidewithme was recording her ninth win and increased her prize money to $438,000.

“It was a great result and she looked fantastic in the parade ring,” Sir Patrick said.

“She's a far stronger mare despite not carrying a lot of condition but carrying more cover than she was last year which has helped strengthen to her up.

“We knew that the eight horse field could be tricky, possibly more so than a fourteen or sixteen horse field, and we know she's not a smart beginner but I basically said to Michael McNab ‘you know her, you know her well, just ride your own race'.

“I said: “if you're out the back, or too wide, try and sneak her up a length or two if she'll allow you to because the horses she's running against are pretty good.

“But she looked so well and to be honest I wasn't surprised she won. But had she run second or third I would have been equally as thrilled to bits because she looked great, she ran on well from last and it was an excellent result."

Sir Patrick also considers Abidewithme in the right form to tackle Group One assignments.

“She ran one or two smashers last year in Group One races and another twelve months on I think she's a better horse - touch wood that she stays sound and everything. I think if she can get to two or three of those Group One races she'll be a big chance."

With Te Akau racing horses far and wide during the day, in Christchurch, Melbourne and Tauranga, operations were handled in the north by racing manager Brad Taylor.

“Brad (Taylor) was there officiating on behalf of Te Akau and I was very impressed with the way he handled his role, looking after us and making sure everything was right, and that we were comfortable and happy with what was happening,” Sir Patrick said.

“I said to Brad: “tell those two trainers to stick to their training during the week and rather than come to the races and manage the horse, you can do it,” he said with a chuckle.

While a perception exists that mares in foal generally improve with the increase of oestrogen, Sir Patrick suggests a few scenarios were possible.

“They can improve a little bit, or be just as good, or sometimes when an odd mare gets pregnant they can switch off completely but she certainly hasn't done that,” said Sir Patrick, of Abidewithme's zest for racing. 

Sir Patrick & Lady Hogan also bred her impressive winning dam Crimson (Zabeel), who was trained by Jim Gibbs before transferring to Bart Cummings during the latter stages of her career.

A winner fresh-up over 1400 metres as a three-year-old, Crimson went on to produce outstanding form through the spring and summer, winning the Waikato Guineas (Gr. 3, 1600m), finishing second in both the Avondale Guineas (Gr. 2, 2000m) and Sir Tristram Fillies Classic (Gr. 2, 2000m), before victory in the Grosvenor Championship Stakes (Gr. 2, 2100m) at Ellerslie.

Her dam, Bourbon Lassie (Mellay) also produced the stallion Omnicorp (Grosvenor).

Abidewithme was strapped by Milou Grylls.

Picture credit - www.raceimages.co.nz

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