Cody Cole will chase a black-type title with Navigator following his impressive resuming victory on the opening day of the Hawke’s Bay Spring carnival.
The Matamata trainer produced the gifted son of Westbury Stud stallion El Roca in prime order on Saturday and the lightly tried five-year-old duly thumped his Rating 75 rivals.
Navigator last raced when he successfully closed out his autumn campaign with victory at Trentham and is a proven first-up performer who has now won all four of his races in a fresh state.
“We targeted the Spring Sprint (G.3, 1400m) after his win at Wellington, so we worked back from there,” Cole said.
“We wanted to kick off on the first day at Hastings and then come back on the last day over 1400 metres,” he said.
“He’ll get in at a nice light weight so it would be a nice option for him going forward.
“Beyond that, I think with the blinkers off, he’d definitely run a mile, but we put them on to get him on the job because when he won here fresh last year, he was looking at everything and waiting for everyone and you can’t win good races like that.
“He’s figuring the game out and the mile is not beyond him, but he’s going to tell us where he wants to go through the season.”
Navigator was quickly into stride on Saturday and settled in behind the leading pack and when popped the question in the straight he responded positively for rider Ryan Elliot.
He strode to the front 250 metres from home and surged clear to score by 1.8 lengths.
“He’s a good horse fresh, we didn’t trial him with the heavy tracks around and although he can cop a heavy surface, I didn’t think we needed too,” Cole said.
“We couldn’t have been any happier with him leading into this race, he’s got a bright future and he’s probably pretty untapped too.
“He’s been loafing around and waiting for them half his life, but the penny is starting to drop now.”
Navigator was offered at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale by Westbury Stud on behalf of breeders Marriott Thoroughbreds, who remained in the ownership group after he was sold to Cole for $110,000.
He is the last foal of the late Stravinsky mare Joiya, who won on three occasions and did a top job at stud with all eight of her foals to race successful.
She left the Listed Ryder Stakes winner Niki Piki Milo, whose half-sister Bella Gioia finished runner-up in the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas while Bella Mente was also placed at the top level in the Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes.
