HORSE OF THE YEAR AWARDS CONTENDERS: Mares to the fore again in Sprinter-Miler category
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • July 11th, 2025 2:00 PM • 8 min read
Mares have dominated the Sprinter-Miler category in the New Zealand Thoroughbred Horse of the Year Awards in the last few years, and it would be no surprise to see that continue in 2024-25.
The award has been won by a mare in all of the last six seasons, starting with back-to-back titles for Melody Belle in 2019 and 2020. She was followed by Probabeel in 2021, Levante in 2022 and Imperatriz in 2023 and 2024.
There are plenty of strong credentials among the sprinter-miler mares again this time around, including a pair of breakthrough performers who collected two Group One victories each this season – Grail Seeker and Provence.
Grail Seeker showed glimpses of exciting talent as a three-year-old last season when she recorded two wins and four placings from a nine-start campaign that was headed by a three-length blitz in the Gr. 2 Wellington Guineas in the autumn.
But the daughter of Iffraaj went to a whole new level as a four-year-old. She produced a sparkling performance fresh up in the Gr. 1 Tarzino Trophy at Hastings in September, bursting to the lead halfway down the straight and landing a $32 upset over a field that featured previous and subsequent Group One winners Skew Wiff, Waitak, Bonny Lass, Crocetti, Snazzytavi and Puntura.
Trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott decided against going any further into the spring with Grail Seeker. Instead they freshened her up for the Gr. 1 Telegraph at Trentham in January, which was her first raceday appearance since the Tarzino some 119 days earlier. In a hugely impressive performance by the mare and her trainers, Grail Seeker romped to an even more resounding win by two and a half lengths.
Grail Seeker had only two further starts this season, finishing sixth in the Gr. 1 BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa and failing to show her best form when unplaced in the Gr. 1 All Aged Stakes in Sydney.
The other mare who had a breakout season in this category was Provence. The daughter of Savabeel had no shortage of pedigree credentials, being a full-sister to Te Akau Racing’s high-class filly Damask Rose. But her own rating stood at a relatively lowly 79 at the beginning of her five-year-old season, with three wins up to Rating 75 level from a nine-start career. She had also run second in the Listed Flying Handicap at Trentham the previous autumn.
The Stephen Marsh-trained Provence was unplaced in the Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint and Gr. 3 J Swap Sprint in her first two starts this time in, but turned her campaign around with a Boxing Day victory in the $90,000 Royal Descent Stakes at Ellerslie. She followed that up with a fourth in the Gr. 2 Rich Hill Mile, then stepped up to the big time.
Provence collected her first Group One victory in an incredibly tight finish to the Gr. 1 Thorndon Mile at Trentham. She edged out Qali Al Farrasha and Town Cryer by a half-head and a neck, with barely a length covering the first eight horses past the line.
After a luckless run in the Listed Lisa Chittick Champagne Stakes at Matamata in February, Provence went back up to Group One level and struck again – this time on Champions Day at Ellerslie.
Sent out as a $30 outsider in the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes, she again dug deepest of all in a desperate finish and defeated Jaarffi by a short head. Hot favourite Legarto was half a length away in third, with Konasana and Campionessa another neck and nose behind.
Racing in the colours of her breeder and part-owner Tony Rider, Provence and her Karaka Millions and NZB Kiwi-winning sister Damask Rose have massively boosted the profiles of each other as well as their dam, the Flying Spur mare Sombreuil.
Rider bred a colt foal out of Sombreuil last spring who is set to have plenty of eyes on him if he heads towards the yearling sales next season. The colt is by Waikato Stud stallion Super Seth, who has himself soared to stardom in recent months with his Group One-winning progeny Feroce, Linebacker, La Dorada and Maison Louis.
As far as the males are concerned, there were five Group One winners within the 1000 to 1600m distance range of the Sprinter-Miler category, starting with One Bold Cat in the Arrowfield Stud Plate and Ladies Man in the TAB Mufhasa Classic.
One of the standout sprint performances of the season came in near-darkness on Karaka Millions night at Ellerslie in January. The previous year’s star male three-year-old Crocetti roared back into Group One-winning form with a brilliant Sistema Railway victory that lit up the evening gloom. He edged out Alabama Lass and Luberon by a short head and a long head in a pulsating finish to the time-honoured dash.
That was one of two wins in Crocetti’s four-year-old season, the other coming first-up over 1100m at Ruakākā at the beginning of August. The Zacinto gelding’s other five starts produced a seventh in the Tarzino Trophy, fourth in the Gr. 3 Counties Bowl, third in the Gr. 3 Concorde Stakes, second in the Gr. 3 King’s Plate and an unplaced finish in Perth’s The Quokka.
Three-year-old filly Alabama Lass forced her way into contention for this category with her gallant Railway placing against her elders. She only boosted her profile with impressive victories in both of her subsequent starts. She took out the King’s Plate on Champions Day, defeating her Railway conqueror Crocetti by five and a quarter lengths, then ventured to Melbourne and captured the Listed HKJC World Pool Classic over 1100m at Flemington.
One of the strongest form races of the season was the Gr. 1 BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa in early February. The weight-for-age sprint turned into an all-Australian affair, with Here To Shock blasting his way to a four-length victory over fellow trans-Tasman raider Bosustow. Those hit-and-run heroics were the only New Zealand appearances for the Aussie pair.
A series of performances on Australian soil boosted that BCD form. Here To Shock’s next start produced a second placing in the Gr. 1 Canterbury Stakes at Randwick, where he was beaten by a neck by Royal Patronage and finished ahead of the likes of Sunshine In Paris, Ceolwulf, Switzerland and Stefi Magnetica.
Bosustow won the Gr. 3 Gold Coast Guineas by six lengths in his next appearance, then ran fifth and only two lengths from the winner in the Gr. 1 Stradbroke Handicap. The first New Zealander across the line in the BCD Group Sprint was the third-placed Savaglee, who went on to be runner-up in the Gr. 1 Australian Guineas at Flemington.
The other Group One winner within the Sprinter-Miler distance range was El Vencedor, who took out the Gr. 1 Ōtaki-Māori WFA Classic at Ellerslie in February. He also won the 1500m Listed Fulton Family Stakes by five lengths, but is likely to figure more prominently in the Middle-Distance category courtesy of his Group One triumphs in the 2000m Herbie Dyke Stakes and Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes.
There was a notable late-season performance in Queensland by Pier, who just missed out on a spot in the Gr. 1 Stradbroke Handicap but collected a consolation prize with a brilliant three-length runaway in last month’s Listed Wayne Wilson at Eagle Farm.
