Aerovelocity (NZ) Continues International Rise

Aerovelocity (NZ) Continues International Rise

Star kiwi sprinter Aerovelocity (NZ) (Pins) flew the New Zealand flag last night with a commanding victory in the S$1,000,000 Group 1 Krisflyer International Sprint (1200m) in Singapore.

The son of Pins has now won two legs of the Global Sprint Challenge Series following his victory in the Group 1 Takamatsunomiya Kinen in Japan at his last start six weeks ago.

Aerovelocity now only has to win one more leg of the 10-race Series to claim the US$1m bonus. There are six races left for him to achieve the feat, three of which are in the UK with Australia, Japan and Hong Kong each to host one of the remaining races later in the year.

From the stable of Paul O’Sullivan, Aerovelocity has been in stellar form this season, winning the Group 1 Hong Kong Sprint in December, followed by a runner-up place in the HK-1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize before conquering in Japan.

Making his debut in New Zealand, under the name Naisoso Warrior, he had one start for one win when trained by Wexford Stables’ Andrew Scott.

“It was a very good result and is a credit to Karaka,” commented O’Sullivan. “It was a fantastic win - he is just a great warrior.

“He is going home now to have a lovely spell. He won’t go to England so he will either go to Japan for the Sprinters Stakes or he will run in the Hong Kong International again.”

Commencing the race strongly from barrier 3 for jockey Zac Purton, Aerovelocity was one of the first away, taking the lead early on. With 800m left to run, Aerovelocity travelled on the rail with Kiwi Karma (NZ) (Fast ‘n’ Famous) up on the outside while Emperor Max(Holy Roman Emperor) tracked behind the New Zealand-bred pair.

Attempting to challenge Aerovelocity, the race-favourite, on the turn for home, Kiwi Karma was unable to hold on giving Emperor Max opportunity to drive down the outside in his own bid to catch the Pins gelding. Aerovelocity, however, was uncatchable as he sprinted powerfully to the line to win by one-and-a-half-lengths over Emperor Max and Lucky Nine(Dubawi), who finished in second and third place respectively.

It was a popular victory with a large group of the horse’s Hong Kong supporters travelling to Singapore to cheer him on, waving pink and green flags, representing the silks worn by Purton, as he returned to scale.

Owned by Daniel Yeung Ngai, winning his tenth race in a career of 18 starts has now earned him NZ$4,853,279 in prizemoney.

Paul O’Sullivan purchased the six-year-old gelding for $120,000 at the 2010 Karaka Premier Sale from Windsor Park Stud.

Bred by Nelson Schick and Steve Till, the son of Pins is out of winning mare Exodus (Kaapstad), a full-sister to Kapitain Kash (Kaapstad), winner of the Group 2 Counties Cup, and is a half-sister to Dante’s Paradiso (Danske), winner of the Listed Tattersalls Club Cup, and stakes placegetter Lord Vader (Grosvenor).

Also featuring in Singapore over the weekend was Affleck (NZ) (Battle Paint), winning the S$500,000 Sgp-1 Singapore Guineas (1600m) which was held on Friday night.

Bred by Chequers Stud, Affleck was a star two-year-old and has carried his winning form into his three-year-old season for trainer Laurie Laxon. The son of Battle Paint is the winner of seven of his 10 starts, finishing second in his three defeats.

Aerovelocity and Affleck were two of five New Zealand-bred runners to win over the weekend in Singapore with Five Hundred Bucks (NZ) (Gold Centre) joining Affleck’s success on Friday night and These Streets (NZ) (Elusive City) and Well Done (NZ) (Falkirk) winning last night.

ENDS

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