Xtravagant Adapts & Dominates

The Informant reports:

Superstar colt Xtravagant added another dimension to his repertoire when he came from off the pace to score a dominant win and threaten the race record in the Gr. 3 Inglis Sales Cambridge Breeders' Stakes at Te Rapa today.

The Pentire colt's explosive gate speed has seen him lead in almost all of his races, demoralising his opposition with front-running victories by enormous margins in the Gr. 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas and NRM Sprint.

But today the $1.50 favourite was taken on in front in the early stages and rider Matt Cameron eased him back to fourth place, where he settled beautifully before pouncing and putting the result beyond doubt as he turned for home.

Xtravagant showed his customary acceleration and class down the straight and raced away to win by two and three-quarter lengths.

“We all know how good he is,” a proud and relieved co-trainer Stephen Autridge said. “He's the best we've got at the moment.

“Today they took us on in front. We had a feeling they were going to do that, so we thought today was going to be the day to change plans and see how he went sitting in behind the leaders.

“It worked out great, so now we know he can do it. That should really help him when we take him up to a mile and further again in future. Those sorts of distances shouldn't be a problem now.”

Xtravagant's reputation had soared sky-high with his NRM Sprint win against older horses at this track in February, but it took a hit when he was a beaten favourite in the Gr. 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington in March.

Today was all about redemption as Xtravagant emphatically recorded his sixth win from 10 career starts and boosted his prize-money earnings to the brink of $500,000.

Xtravagant clocked a winning time of 1:08.68, which was the second fastest in the history of the three-year-old sprint. The race record was set by the Group One galloper Shifnal Chief, who clocked 1:08.50 back in 1973.

It was the second Breeders' Stakes win in the last five years for a horse carrying the Te Akau tangerine. The quality galloper Burgundy, who now stands at Cambridge Stud, won the race in 2012.

“When they went up and crossed in front of him early in the race, he said, ‘Excuse me, I don't get crossed,' but then after a little while he settled really well,” regular rider Matt Cameron said.

“He was going to have to learn how to take a sit sooner or later. He'll definitely learn a lot from this race today and it will help him when he takes on the big guns again.

“He did get a bit tired towards the end, but he'll improve a lot for the run. He'll improve another 10 lengths on this.”

Where Xtravagant goes from here remains to be seen. A trip to Brisbane for the Gr. 1 Stradbroke Handicap is a possibility, but he could also be saved for the Melbourne spring.

“We'll have a meeting with David Ellis in the coming week and make up our minds on that,” Autridge said. “Whether he goes to Brisbane or we look at something in Melbourne, we'll wait and see.”