23 Apr 2022Lady Luck finally rode with Pinarello and our exciting son of Tavistock showed his true colours with a powerful staying display to triumph in the G2 Championship Stakes at Pukekohe Park and put him in the mix for a trip to Brisbane.
Expertly prepared for us by Roger James and Robert Wellwood, the three-year-old was quickly into stride and was given a perfect ride by jockey Leith Innes in fourth spot and one off the fence.
Pinarello strode to the front 250 metres from home and the three-year-old needed a minimum of urging he claimed the 2100 metre age group feature with a good degree of authority.
It was a welcome change of fortune for Pinarello, who suffered a few disruptions this preparation and was kicked in a trackwork incident ahead of the G1 New Zealand Derby and also missed a start due to an unsuitably wet track.
He subsequently finished fifth in the Ellerslie classic, in which the stop and start tempo didn’t help his cause.
Pinarello then headed south for the G3 Manawatu Classic only to be scratched at the barrier due to an issue with a tooth issue.
“I wasn’t convinced he should have been scratched at Awapuni, as I think it was a borderline call, but we have moved on and were focused on getting him ready for this,” James said.
“Leith rode him nicely and he travelled very well in the run and you saw his class when he extended away like he did.”
James will monitor Pinarello in the coming days with an eye on a trip to Brisbane next month.
“As long as he pulls up well, then he will be in serious consideration for a trip to Brisbane for the Queensland Derby,” he said.
“This race will have brought his fitness on again and we would look at a race like the Rough Habit Plate as a possible lead-up to a Derby start.”
A half-brother to stakes winners Bavella and Vernazza, Pinarello is out of the Zabeel mare Zonza, who won the G3 Ladies’ Day Vase when in James’ care.
She has an unraced Tavistock two-year-old filly named Zazon, a yearling daughter by Almanzor and was served in 2021 by Bivouac.