It takes a talented galloper to run down Town Cryer (NZ) (Tavistock), and her rivals were no match for the classy mare in Sunday’s Gr.3 Gee and Hickton Funeral Directors Thompson Handicap (1600m) at Trentham.
The Tavistock mare had a career-best season last term, winning the Gr.3 Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and Listed Wairarapa Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m), alongside placings in the Gr.3 Anniversary Handicap (1600m) and Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m).
Roydon Bergerson, who trains the mare out of Awapuni, had hoped to target the Hawke’s Bay Spring Carnival, but elected to bypass the features and returned to defend her crown in the Taranaki Breeders’, where she finished a commendable second to The Hottie.
Primed for a step-up to the mile, Town Cryer started the $7.10 third-favourite behind Islington Lass ($3.80) and Spencer ($5.70) and she flew away from the barriers, assuming control of the tempo early under Craig Grylls.
Grylls increased the pressure passing the 600m and set a task for the field in the straight, where in her typical fashion, Town Cryer was too tough and held off last year’s winner Diss Is Dramatic by three-quarters of a length to claim the feature.
A photo finish between Liffey and Lightning Jack respectively completed the first four.
Grylls collected his fourth stakes-level success for the season in the race, giving plenty of praise for Town Cryer.
“She popped away nicely and got rolling along as she does, but she was beautiful and relaxed the whole way,” he said.
“She’s best trying to get away from them a little bit, because she can sustain a gallop. The question mark was on the heavy ground, but she’s so tough, she just wants to keep on running.
“I thought they were coming at me about the 200, but she gets going again. She’s a very tough mare and has been a great racehorse for the team.”
Bergerson indicated post-race that he had questioned whether to start Town Cryer after heavy rain in the region across the weekend, but her quality shone through.
“I nearly scratched her, but there’s no races for her for about six weeks until we come back for the Group One,” he said.
“She loves it at Trentham, Gryllsy gets on so well with her and I was pretty confident after her run the other day at Hawera, she was just so well above herself.
“She loves the fight, he took her to them at the 600 and they just couldn’t get past her.”
Town Cryer finished a game seventh in last year’s edition of the Gr.1 Mufhasa TAB Classic (1600m), a result Bergerson hopes to improve when she returns to the venue on December 7.
“She might have to go to Riccarton in the interim, but I’ll probably just give her a trial, she races so well fresh. She’s a good horse, a really good horse,” he said.
“She goes on anything and good horses do that.
“I told the boys at her first start that we have a good horse here, and I think she ran 26 lengths last. I’ve always had faith in her and I’d like to thank all of my staff, they do a great job with her. It’s a hard job for them, but they’re there every morning, it’s great.”
Out of a three-win and Listed-performing mare The Speaker, Town Cryer has won eight of her 35 starts with a further 13 minor placings, earning just shy of $500,000 in stakes for a large ownership group.