Battle Secret (NZ) (Battle Paint) has been a quiet achiever in the Bill Thurlow stable throughout his career and continued a purple patch of form this campaign going back-to-back at Hawera on Sunday.
The seven-year-old had saluted second-up at Woodville over a mile in Rating 75 company, and remaining in that grade, he stepped up in distance while sitting among the favoured runners for the Norwood 2100 R75.
Jumping from the outside barrier, Battle Secret was swiftly eased back to last by jockey Masa Hashizume and travelled comfortably through the mid-stages. Hashizume allowed the gelding to slide off the fence and track around his rivals at the 800 metres, storming into contention and hit the lead on straightening.
Wheelitin was the main danger and fought gamely on the inside with a six-and-a-half kilogram weight advantage on Battle Secret, but despite this, he was too strong in the finish and powered to the line by a long neck.
“It was a really nice run, he settled pretty well and found the line, he was ridden really well too,” Thurlow said.
“We’re very happy with him, he’s doing a good job.
“We’ll continue to try to place him in this kind of race over the next couple of weeks, I haven’t had a look yet as we were just hoping to get through today first.
“If everything goes right, he could be a nice country cup’s type of horse a bit further down the track which would be nice.”
The Waverley horseman praised the efforts of Hashizume, who retained the ride after guiding the son of Battle Paint at Woodville.
“Masa has ridden a little bit for us and he’s going really well at the moment, he’s a jockey I’ve watched a bit and I like his style of riding,” Thurlow said.
“He gets along with our horses well, he rides them patiently and if he keeps coming down to the CD, that would be good.”
Now a winner of five races from 25 starts, Battle Secret has won over $70,000 in stakes for a large ownership group, which includes his breeders.
Earlier in the week, Thurlow’s top string in Group One winner No Compromise, Listed winner No Rain Ever and the well-performed Frank The Tank all made an appearance at the Foxton trials, with pleasing performances across the board.
“No Compromise trialled really well I thought, his last 150 metres was very good without being asked,” Thurlow said.
“We went there with no expectations, it was just a run around so he’ll trial again on the 3rd of September and he may be asked for a bit more on that day.
“After that, we’ll be looking to find a race for him.
“No Rain Ever and Frank The Tank were much the same, all of these three were just there for a day out and have come through with flying colours.
“They will also trial again, and we’ll be finding races for them from mid-September onwards.”
