Local mare Third Decree (NZ) (War Decree) picked a lucrative day for a big-race breakthrough, going from last to first in the $350,000 TAB Southern Alps Challenge (1600m) at Riccarton on Saturday.
It was the second running of the Southern Alps Challenge, which was established last season by Entain and New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing and is restricted to trainers who operate a stable in the South Island. Last year’s inaugural edition was taken out by Matscot (NZ) (Haradasun) for local owner-trainer-breeders Sharon Robertson and Alan Reeves, and on Saturday the spotlight landed on Third Decree and Michael and Matthew Pitman.
Third Decree went into the Southern Alps Challenge as an eight-time winner from 23 starts, but the best of those wins was a $50,000 open handicap at Ashburton in October. The daughter of War Decree had finished second on another five occasions including the Gr.3 Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and Listed Great Easter Stakes (1400m). Third Decree clearly possessed the potential to star on the big stage, and on Saturday she did exactly that.
The five-year-old was patiently ridden by Kylie Williams, who settled in second-last in the early stages and had dropped right out the back as the field made their way down the side of the track towards the home turn.
Williams angled Third Decree to the outside in the home straight and let her rip. She immediately changed gears and charged past her 13 rivals, catching Dazzling Miss (NZ) (Proisir) and Treybon (NZ) (Sweynesse) in the final 100m and pulling ahead to win by three-quarters of a length. Defending champion Matscot produced an eye-catching finish of his own to get up into fourth.
Third Decree was bred by Anne Bruford, who races her in partnership with her husband Jim and 10 other co-owners. The super-talented mare has now earned $370,105 in stakes from her 24-start, nine-win career.
The only thing missing from her CV is a win at black-type level, and the Pitman stable will try to do something about that during the next Riccarton meeting on April 26.
“She’s always had a performance like that in her,” Matthew Pitman said. “She’s placed at Group Three and Listed level and won quite a lot of races, but until now she’d just never quite managed to get over the hurdle of winning a big one. It was really good to see her do that in a $350,000 race today.
“She was given a phenomenal ride by Kylie Williams, and when she’s ridden like that, she has the ability to be quite explosive. She showed that today.
“We never like to make decisions on raceday, but a race like the Great Easter Stakes back here in a couple of weeks might be right up her alley. We’d love to pick up a black-type win with her.”
