Hi Yo Sass Bomb poised for Thorndon return
Paul Vettise - Raceform • January 15th, 2026 10:54 AM • 3 min read
Gifted mare Hi Yo Sass Bomb convinced trainer Kim Reid earlier this week that she’s primed to pick up where she left off when she returns to action at Trentham this weekend.
The multiple stakes-winning daughter of Complacent will make her first appearance in Saturday’s Gr.2 Harcourts Thorndon Mile after her triumphant spring campaign was cut short by unforeseen circumstances.
Hi Yo Sass Bomb posted consecutive wins at Group Three level in the Taranaki Breeders’ Stakes and Thompson Handicap before a crack at another top-flight feature was ruled out.
“She picked up a nail in her hoof heading on to the track just a week prior to the Mufhasa Classic, so it’s been a real roller coaster getting her back,” Reid said.
“That obviously put us back a bit, but she is going super now. I know it’s a big ask to come straight back into such a big race, but if any horse can it’s her, she’s just so tough.”
Plans for an exhibition gallop last weekend were also scuppered, but Hi Yo Sass Bomb has coped admirably with Plan B.
“We took her to Whanganui to gallop last Saturday but decided against it because the track was so hard,” Reid said. “We ended up galloping at New Plymouth with (race rival) Belles Beau on Sunday and she went really nicely.
“I thought we may have emptied her tank, but I rode her on Tuesday morning and she’s perfect, full of beans. I do all the riding myself and two or three weeks ago I wasn’t sure where she was at, but she’s pretty classy and I’m sure she’s now ready to go a nice race.”
Also in the seven-year-old’s favour is her ability to shine off a minimum of racing, along with her liking for Trentham, where she was a course and distance winner of the Thompson as well as the Gr.3 Cuddle Stakes.
Hi Yo Sass Bomb has four first-up victories on her resume, as well as two second-up winning strikes and after Saturday will put the latter record to the test again when she takes aim at the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke Stakes.
“I really think that 2000m is her trip, she’s only run that distance twice in her career and she really relaxes well these days, so all going well she’ll go on to the Herbie Dyke,” Reid said.
Hi Yo Sass Bomb finished midfield in her first attempt over a middle-distance at Trentham two years ago after blundering at the start and lost a plate during the race. In her second appearance over ground, she beat all but high-class mare Snazzytavi in last year’s Gr.1 Livamol Classic at Te Rapa.
Successful in seven of her 26 starts, Hi Yo Sass Bomb is raced by Reid with parents Graeme and Josphine who bred the mare. She is out of Hi Yo Soo, a daughter of Spartacus who won on five occasions up to 2200m, and comes from the family of three-time stakes winner and Gr.1 Mackinnon Stakes placegetter Hezashocka.
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