First Win for 2014

Te Akau NZ trainer Jason Bridgman has celebrated his first win for 2014.  We could not be more delighted for Waikato Stud's Mark and Lisa Chittick.

Patiently handled at the rear of the field, Tiara (3 f O'Reilly - Royal Lady, by Stravinksy) staged an enormous performance to register her first win in the Linkup Paints Maiden 1600 metres on Jan. 2 at Tauranga.

Tiara provided Te Akau trainer Jason Bridgman with his first success for the New Year, to remain atop the Trainers Premiership with 41 wins, thanks to a brilliant ride by Matt Cameron aboard the Waikato Stud filly.

“She's obviously not that easy and always been soft in the mouth,” said Waikato Stud boss Mark Chittick.

“It seemed every time she had a little bit of pressure on her mouth she threw her head in the air and lost a length, but once she had the room and Matt (Cameron) could let her rip she really quickened. It was quite a stop/start sort of race and dodgems in the home straight but the ability to quicken was certainly there.

“Being able to win at a mile at only her fourth start is great because she is going through the educational process as well as getting into the distance zone of where she is best suited as a three-year-old filly at this time of year, and she is going to learn more each time,” said Chittick.

Easy off a wide gate in the field of twelve, Tiara bided her time on a competitive early pace and stood the leader ten lengths at the 600 metres. Tracking up near the rail, she switched to a gap on the rail at the 200m and sustained a big finish to win by a long neck in 1:36.6 and a final 600m, off the front, in 36.9.

“The big thing with her is getting her to relax,” said jockey Matt Cameron. “I ended up in an awkward spot at the 700 metres but it opened up and I had the horse underneath me and she kicked away nicely. Hopefully she has learnt a lot from it; going through horses, staying in behind horses and doing it properly.

Neither her five time winning dam, Royal Lady, or grand-dam Royal Tiara (Blanco), who included victory in the 1995 Auckland Cup (Gr. 1, 3200m), were able to win short of 2000 metres, which indicates both the athleticism in Tiara and the pedigree to go further.

A filly of considerable quality, Royal Tiara also finished second in the Queensland Oaks (Gr. 1, 2400m), AJC St Leger (Gr. 2, 2800m) and Waikato Cup (Gr. 2, 2400m), and secured earnings of $367,000.

“Her mother died giving birth and she (Tiara) is the only filly we have from the mare,” said Chittick. “It certainly reflects the highs and lows of racing.

Trainer Jason Bridgman has put plenty of time and effort into getting the best from the promising filly.

“She is a lovely filly,” said Bridgman. “She had a tendency to over-race early and we have restricted her to shorter trips, but last start she showed a glimpse of settling much better and we stepped her up to 1600m. I was worried when she was back near last coming to the 600 metres, but you need a little bit of luck in racing and today we had that with everything scooting wide and she ended up with a dream run. And, she was good enough to capitalize on it.

“I think more often than not horses with ability have a tendency to over-race early in their career because they find it so easy and its part of the job that all horses just aren't natural in their racing manners and take a bit of teaching. She (Tiara) will keep improving and she's bred to go a trip, so she has a bright future,” said Bridgman.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz