Former quality three-year-old Grand Impact has roared back into top form as a five-year-old this summer, stringing together back-to-back wins including Saturday’s A$160,000 Inglis Classic Yearling Sale Handicap (1200m) at Rosehill.
The New Zealand-bred son of Satono Aladdin made an outstanding start to his career in 2022 with victories in all of his first three starts including the Gr.3 Blue Sapphire Stakes (1200m) at Rosehill.
He was plagued by soreness through the second half of his three-year-old season and an OCD (osteochondritis dissecans) in a shoulder was identified as the issue, where a lesion of cartilage flakes off. That resulted in Grand Impact having 16 months away from racing before a sub-par preparation last autumn.
Trainers Mick Price and Michael Kent Jnr have turned his fortunes around as a five-year-old, resuming with a fourth at Moonee Valley in late November and a third at Pakenham in December before winning a Benchmark 100 handicap at Wyong on January 11.
Grand Impact carried on to Rosehill on Saturday and delivered a repeat result in the hands of 3kg claimer Anna Roper.
The apprentice jockey took up a position on the outside of the leader before pouncing at the home turn. Grand Impact took command and dug deep when challenged through the final 200m, holding on to win by half a length.
“He wanted to overdo it a little bit in the middle stages, but I dropped my hands on him a little bit and he relaxed nicely,” Roper said. “He really towed me around the turn, and once I let go, he really went. It was a great feeling.”
Grand Impact has now had 12 starts for five wins, a placing and A$355,700 in prize-money.
“He’s taken a lot of time,” Price and Kent’s Sydney representative Ben Elam said. “I have to give credit to the farriers in Melbourne and Sydney. This horse has had a mountain of gear changes and things like that.
“The ownership group has had to be very patient, but I think we’ve got him right again now. He’s a happy horse.
“We just told Anna to keep him comfortable and keep him flowing, and if she could get outside the leader, that would be perfect. He was a bit wayward in the straight, but it’s been a while since he’s been in front for that long.
“The horse is going terrifically well.”
Bred by Ross and Corrine Kearney’s Okaharau Station, Grand Impact is by outstanding young Rich Hill Stud stallion Satono Aladdin out of the Swiss Ace mare Serena Slam.
Grand Impact was initially trained in New Zealand by Stephanie Tierney for whom he had two trials, winning over 800m at Ellerslie before his sale to Australia.
Satono Aladdin had a successful week at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales at Karaka, particularly in Book 2, where he sired three of the six top-priced lots including the $260,000 sale-topping filly out of Sparkling Rose.
