Total Excess Excellent on Debut

Total Excess (2 g Delago Deluxe - Avail, by Exceed and Excel) became the tenth individual two-year-old winner this season for Te Akau trainers Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards, with a terrific debut performance in the $10,000 Karaka May Sale Maiden 2YO 1200 metres on Saturday at Hastings.

Having looked good in three trials without being extended, Total Excess is a beautifully balanced horse, athletic, and very much in the mould of his sire Delago Deluxe (Encosta De Lago), an unbeaten Champion 2YO in South Africa, and Group One winner at two and three years of age.

Owned by the Te Akau Total Excess Syndicate (Mgr: Karyn Fenton-Ellis MNZM), he was purchased by David Ellis for $200,000, from the draft of Regal Farm, at the 2017 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale.

“It looks like we've bought some really nice horses from that sale,” Ellis said. “We've only started two of them: this horse and a filly, Ristretto (Makfi), who won on debut earlier this month at New Plymouth.

“Jamie had been and watched him work, saying that he had a lovely action, and when I inspected him at the sales I was very impressed with him as physical specimen. He had everything in the right place, used himself beautifully at a walk, and he's done everything asked of him leading up to race day.

“We've got some terrific owners in the horse and I'm thrilled for them because we paid a bit of sugar for him and it's lovely to see that the team that put the money in get a nice horse.

“He's from a terrific family of the late Mick and Melba Murfitt. They bred and raced his third dam, Eye Full, who was by Palatable, a very successful sire that they stood at Riccarton Stud. She won the Hawkes Bay Cup and finished second in the New Zealand Cup (winning 11 races) and with her in the pedigree, the second dam by Zabeel, which they also bred, and first dam by Exceed and Excel it certainly gives the horse a lot of scope for the future.”

The victory was aided in no small way by rider Lisa Allpress, who after jumping the horse out well, elected to press on and lead at the 900m, before steadying a sectional to the 600m, and after finding a handy advantage mid-straight the combination proved too good.

Total Excess had a comfortable one length buffer at the line, in 1:12.1, last 600m in 35.8, for the 1200 metres on Dead5 footing, and starting as the race favourite he returned $3.10 & $1.50 on the NZ TAB tote.

“It was a very skilled ride by Lisa Allpress, she summed things up perfectly and made the race by pushing on and taking the lead,” Ellis said. “Lisa and her husband, Karl, are very good friends of ours, we love putting her on and she always does well when she rides for us.”

Total Excess has a lovely Danehill (Danzig) cross in his pedigree, through dam sire Flying Spur in his sire line and as the sire of Exceed and Excel on the dam side.

“He's a horse that really impressed us at the breeze ups prior to the sale,” said co-trainer Jamie Richards.

“We gave him a little break after two trials in the summer, and Opie (Bosson) was fairly confident he would handle a little bit of give in the ground, after he trialled him, so I'm pleased we exercised a bit more time and he trialled up well for Shafiq recently at Waipa.

“He pleased in his work on Tuesday morning, so it's great that Dave (Ellis) bought the horse and it's a terrific thrill for the owners for him to win first up. We think he's the right type, given his family, to keep improving from here and into his three-year-old season.

“It was a lovely ride from Lisa (Allpress). She took any bad luck out of the equation and we said we'd be happy to lead if she got a soft sectional, which she did, and that was probably the winning of the race.”

Total Excess was strapped by Mette Mosebo.

Photo credit - www.raceimages.co.nz