Griffin - Just the Biscuit

Griffin (4 g Iffraaj - Double Elle, by Generous) resumed on a bright note in the $10,000 Valachi Downs Rating 65 1200 metres on 30 December at Taupo, and provided Te Akau apprentice Chelsea Burdan with her second win.

The brother to triple Group One winner Gingernuts, Griffin was also purchased by Te Akau principal David Ellis, for $90,000, from the New Zealand Bloodstock online auction site Gavelhouse.

Coming off a lengthy spell to trial nicely in November at Matamata, Griffin ran home very well off a torrid pace when trialling on 11 December at Te Aroha, ridden by Burdan in each, and always shown ability.

A winner on debut at two, he went winless as a three-year-old when contesting stakes races, and recorded his second victory for the Te Akau Slam Dunk Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM).

Away well before steadying for cover in third, he appeared to travel easily when ranging to challenge rounding the home turn and carried an advantage inside the 200m to the line.

Strongly supported in a field of five, he returned $2.50 & $1.80 on the tote, running the 1200 metres in 1:11.6 on ideal Dead4 footing.

Griffin notched the 54^th win for the leading trainer this season Jamie Richards, a day after he bagged three wins at Matamata, with You're Welcome (Camelot), Together (Ocean Park), and Burgundy Belle (Burgundy).

“He's trialled a couple of times and was pretty forward, and the (weight) claim helped,” Richards said. “I thought it was a nice ride by Chelsea, just gave him a bit of a dig and let the speed go and got in behind them, so she's a rider that's on the improve.

“He injured a hind fetlock and just needed a bit of time. He's got a lovely team of owners and hopefully he can kick on from here.”

David Ellis said: “It was a really nice win for the owners. He's a brother to one of our favourite horses Gingernuts, so he's always had a following. I bought him on Gavelhouse and Karyn syndicated him. He's had a few issues, but looks like he's over them now and we could see him wining a few races this campaign.

“It was lovely to see Chelsea win another race. Her four-kilo claim is a lot of weight relief, nearly 10 pounds, and I can see her claim being used to good effect into the winter and she'll be consistently riding winners. She works very hard and doing a good job for us.

“These young people get up each morning at 3.30 a.m. and ride ten to a dozen in work, so it's nice to see them being rewarded.

“It's was Jamie's 54^th win for the season, with a strike rate of 4.4 - very hard to do, and very few trainers in the last 25 years have been able to have that sort of strike rate at the top of the premiership. And it's made even better when you think that in the big races we're often lining up two, three, or four horses, to have a strike rate like that is hard to achieve.”

Ellis purchased million-dollar earner Gingernuts as a two-year-old for $42,500 at the 2015 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale, winning six of his 12 starts, including the New Zealand Derby (Gr. 1, 2400m), Rosehill Guineas (Gr. 1, 2000m), and Windsor Park Plate (Gr. 1, 1600m), before being retired to Te Akau Stud after a life threatening fetlock injury, sustained during his preliminary for the 2017 Emirates Stakes (Gr. 1, 2000m) at Flemington.

“Gingernuts is being ridden most days around the farm at Te Akau,” Ellis reported. “He's loving life and he's a very happy horse. We're breaking in some of the homebred horses at present and it's brilliant to see how much he's enjoying helping educate the young ones, and he's just a very happy horse.”

Griffin was strapped by Joe Kamaruddin.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz