Ammirati strengthens NZ Derby claims with easy Salver win
Dennis Ryan • January 11th, 2026 7:00 PM • 3 min read
An unusual plan paid big dividends for the connections of Ammirati when the big gelding confirmed New Zealand Derby plans with a dominant victory in the Listed Trackside Gingernuts Salver (2100m) at Ellerslie on Sunday.
With more than a month between his win in the Gr. 3 Wellington Stakes (1600m) at Ōtaki in late November and a fifth placing in last week’s Gr. 2 Levin Classic (1400m) at Trentham, trainer Stephen Marsh decided on an eight-day back up for Ammirati’s first middle-distance test.
That proved a masterstroke as the Savabeel gelding jumped best from the 2100m start point to make the early running and then track the leaders to the home turn. Regular jockey Matt Cartwright bided his time until asking Ammirati for his effort and he established a break on his rivals with 250m to run to still hold a margin of three-quarters of a length at the line.
In a tight contest for the minor placings, Hastings visitor Tulsa King took second by a half-head from Yamato Satona, with the same margin to Day One and a nose to Navy Dreams in fifth place.
While Marsh was absent on sales duty at the Gold Coast, stable representative Dylan Johnson was happy to sing his employer’s praises at a plan that worked.
“It’s always satisfying when a plan comes off, so you’ve got to hand it to Stephen, it was a good call,” Johnson said. “We had been toying with whether he was a Kiwi or a Derby horse, but last week he said he would like to run him at Trentham and if he came through that okay then back him up here and get him over ground.
“He had an economical run at Trentham and he hit the line well, so it set up well and it was great to see it all fall into place.
“The beauty of today’s win is that you now know he’ll run a trip and we can pick a path to the Derby.”
Five years ago the Marsh-trained Milford, another Savabeel gelding carrying the JML Bloodstock colours, won the Gingernuts Salver and after finishing fifth in the Avondale Guineas, finished second to Rocket Spade in the New Zealand Derby.
“It would be good to go one better with this horse, but he’ll work out which way to go with the choice of the Waikato Guineas (February 7) or the Avondale Guineas (February 27), but probably not both.”
The TAB reacted to Ammirati’s win by trimming his NZ Derby odds from $13 to $9 on the second line behind $7 equal favourites Road To Paris and Towering Vision. Yamato Satona came in from $21 to $13 after hitting the line hard from well back, while Day One, who appeared to have his chance, eased from $13 to $17.
At $450,000 from Waikato Stud’s 2023 Karaka draft, Ammirati was the third high-priced National Yearling Sale graduate to win on Sunday’s Ellerslie card. Almanzor filly Stromlinien, who was knocked down at the same price from the Elsdon Park draft last January, scored an impressive debut win, while her stablemate Chilling Out, also by Savabeel and costing $375,000 from Haunui Farm’s Karaka 2023 draft, completed a double in style.
As Lot 467, a brother to Ammirati is one of 13 Savabeel yearlings in the Waikato Stud draft for the upcoming Karaka Centenary Sale. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
