Pike seeks further Winter Championships spoils
Richard Edmunds - Raceform • June 27th, 2025 12:00 PM • 4 min read
Tony Pike played a starring role on the inaugural Winter Championships raceday at Ruakaka in 2022, and the Cambridge trainer returns to the winterless north on Saturday with a quartet of chances for this year’s $60,000 finals.
Pike won two of the five features in the first Winter Championships meeting three years ago. Pacific Dragon took out the 2YO Final, while River Run rolled home by three and three-quarter lengths in the Stayers’ Final.
Pike will have runners in both of those races again in 2025. He holds a strong hand in the ITM/GIB 2YO Final with Boombox and Ashoka, who fought out the finish of a $40,000 two-year-old race at Ellerslie three weeks ago.
Boombox was prominently positioned throughout that 1200-metre event on June 7, sitting outside the leader before taking command at the top of the straight. Ashoka emerged out of the pack as his biggest danger, and they waged a two-horse war to the line that was won by Boombox by a head.
That was the second career start for Spirit Of Boom gelding Boombox, whose only previous appearance produced a fifth placing at Ellerslie in February behind subsequent stakes winner Lucy In The Sky. Hello Youmzain gelding Ashoka, meanwhile, kicked off his career with that runner-up finish.
“I was really happy with both of them that day at Ellerslie,” Pike told RaceForm on Tuesday. “Ashoka was on debut and raced a touch greenly, so will learn a lot from that experience.
“Boombox showed that he’d taken significant improvement from his break. He sat on speed and held on very strongly down the straight.
“I think we’re heading into the 2YO Final on Saturday with a couple of very nice chances. They worked well together this morning. I’m more than happy with their condition heading towards Ruakaka.
“Ordinarily they might have gone out after Ellerslie, but this meeting was just around the corner so we kept them in work with this race in mind. It’s a nice chance to race for $60,000 before they head out for a break. They both have the makings of nice three-year-olds.”
Pike’s runner in the ITM/GIB Stayers’ Final is Roederer, who has finished third in open handicaps in his last two starts – beaten by five lengths by Uderzo over 1600 metres at Te Rapa on May 24, and crossing the line a similar margin behind Major Major over 2100 metres at Ellerslie on June 7.
“He’s put in a couple of very good efforts in open company,” Pike said. “He just got a bit lost at the corner last start and ended up coming a bit wider than he needed to. He was still very strong in the final stages of the race.
“Hopefully he can have a bit more of an economical run this time. I think he can be very competitive – particularly considering how well he’s progressed in between times.
“Our runner in the Progressive Final is Urlar, who was held up a touch in the early part of the straight at Ellerslie last start. She was strong late. That was the second tier of the Rating 65 races that day, but this race doesn’t look a lot stronger on paper. She’s racing in solid form and deserves the chance to run for some good prize-money.”
