Emerging stayer Our Time signed off his first season of racing on a winning note with a tough weight-carrying performance in the Trackside.co.nz (2100m) at Pukekohe on Friday.
The well-related son of Time Test had to carry 60kg in the Rating 65 Benchmark event, but his form credentials still saw him jump as a $2.50 favourite in the hands of jockey Kelly Myers.
The four-year-old had finished second in the $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karapiro Classic (1600m) at Te Rapa two starts ago, edged out by a neck by the impressive Risque Ruler.
In his only other appearance since then, Our Time finished fifth in a highly competitive $75,000 Rating 65 at Ellerslie, beaten by a short head, a short head, a head and a head.
Drawn gate 11 among a 12-horse field on Friday, Our Time found himself caught three wide going into the first turn.
Myers pressed forward and briefly took the lead turning into the back straight, then was happy to ease back into the trail when Ember Attack and No Plan Be swooped past from wide positions.
No Plan Be had a strong kick turning for home and was going to take some catching, but Our Time knuckled down and surged past her at the 200m mark.
The favourite pulled clear from there, going on to win by three-quarters of a length from a strong-finishing Gillian.
Our Time has now had six starts for two wins, two seconds and $95,120 in stakes.
Our Time is trained by Peter Lock for owner-breeders Peter Hart and Ian McDonald.
That pair of trans-Tasman friends also bred and raced Our Time’s half-sister Faithful Feat, who Lock trained to win seven of her 17 starts including the Group 3 J Swap Sprint (1400m).
She also finished second and fourth in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Group 2 Westbury Classic (1400m).
The dam of Our Time and Faithful Feat is the Snitzel mare On Yer Feet, whose half-brother Hiflyer placed in the Group 1 Thorndon Mile (1600m) and Tarzino Trophy (1400m) for Lock in 2018.
Lock believes Our Time has the potential to follow in the black-type footsteps of those relatives, albeit over longer distances.
“That was another great run today by a very progressive horse,” he said.
“I’m very happy with him. He’s done all of this in only his first preparation, so he’s done a fantastic job.
“He’s a half-brother to a very good mare that I had, Faithful Feat, and closely related to Hiflyer as well. So he’s got the breeding there, but he’s certainly a lot more stamina-oriented than those two.
“I think he’s got much more ahead of him. He’s pulled up really well after this win today, so we’ll put him out now and give him a nice break while the weather is still good.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do a bit further down the track. I’d like to think he could win a nice Cup race, so those are the sorts of targets we’ll be setting him for next season.”
Horse racing news
