Freewheeling Kiwi-bred I’mintowin (NZ) (Contributer) maintained his perfect record this preparation with another all-the-way win in Saturday’s A$160,000 James Squire Handicap (1400m) at Rosehill.
The five-year-old Contributer gelding led all the way for a first-up victory over 1400m at Kembla Grange on November 23, mastering a testing 62kg topweight on a Good3 track and running record time.
The step up in class for a Benchmark 94 handicap on Saturday saw I’mintowin better placed at the weights with 56.5kg, but the track conditions presented a very different challenge. Persistent rain throughout the afternoon led to a series of downgrades, eventually going all the way to down a Heavy10. But despite the very different circumstances, the result was the same as I’mintowin ran his rivals into the ground.
Drawn second from the outside in a scratchings-ravaged field of seven, I’mintowin and jockey Tim Clark wasted no time in striding forward and taking the lead. They dominated the race from there, finding a second wind when challenged in the straight and pulling away again to beat Ang Pow (Flying Artie) and Konasana (Dundeel) by almost three lengths.
I’mintowin has now had 14 starts for four wins, five placings and A$345,318 in stakes.
“This was a very different track to the one he won first-up on, so it’s great to see his versatility,” said Adrian Bott, who trains in partnership with Gai Waterhouse. “I think staying at 1400m might have helped him today on this testing track.
“No doubt, the best part of his race was that last furlong. I momentarily thought he might be in a bit of trouble at the top of the straight, but once he balanced up and really got into stride, he was powering away from them late.
“He’s a horse that naturally is always pretty strong within himself. He does plenty of work. He’s very competitive, even when he works on his own at home. He works himself fit pretty quickly. That’s something that we have to manage throughout his preparations and in his racing style as well. It’s a matter of trying to contain him, and our staff at home have been putting a lot of work into that.
“We’ll potentially go up in distance now. These first two runs have given him a good grounding for stepping up to the mile next start. I wouldn’t be afraid to test him over further than that as well. He has such a great cruising speed, and if he’s able to sustain that over a bit further, that opens up a lot more options.”
I’mintowin was bred by Masterpiece Enterprises Ltd and is by Contributer out of the three-time winning Castledale mare Beguile (NZ).
I’mintowin began his career with six starts in New Zealand from the Byerley Park stable of Peter and Dawn Williams. He was a maiden winner at Avondale in November 2022, then finished third in the Gr.3 Bonecrusher Stakes (1400m), fourth in the Listed Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m) and ninth in the Gr.1 Levin Classic (1600m) before being privately sold into Australian ownership.
