Aided by a smart ride from Jonathan Riddell, quality three-year-old Solidify comfortably accounted for his older rivals at Otaki.
The Palmerston North-based jockey made an early move aboard the Team Rogerson-trained son of Westbury Stud’s Redwood, whose depths of stamina then kicked in impressively over the 2100-metre distance.
“He’s a bit of a war horse and I quite like him, he’s really tough,” Riddell said.
“I got to the front without really letting him go and he was too good.”
Riddell peeled out from fifth spot to take control of the race 600 metres from home and Solidify stayed on strongly in the run home to score by a length and a half.
He has now won five of his 18 starts, including last season’s Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre Stakes, and has also finished runner-up in the G2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas and the Championship Stakes.
His latest success was a deserved one as he had placed in all four of his previous outings.
Solidify was purchased by Rogerson for $140,000 from the Westbury draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s Ready to Run Sale with breeder Gerry Harvey remaining in the ownership group.
He is a son of the Redoute’s Choice mare The Warrior Woman, who is a sister to the Group 1 Australian Oaks winner Royal Descent.
The dam’s now two-year-old colt by Reliable Man was a $210,000 Ready to Run Sale buy for bloodstock agent John Foote and she is in foal again to Redwood.