Gifted youngster Solidify has emerged as another hot spring prospect for Tuhikaramea trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson with a first stakes victory already on the board.
Like his multiple Group 1-winning stablemate Sharp ‘N’ Smart, the two-year-old is a son of Westbury Stud’s Redwood with the pair also bred by the farm’s owner Gerry Harvey, who shares in the ownership of the talented duo.
The Karaka nursery dominated the domestic juvenile black-type events at the weekend with graduate Illicit Dreams also claiming top honours in the Listed Champagne Stakes at Riccarton.
The day continued to get better for the stud in Australia with Reliable Man’s home-bred daughters Renaissance Woman and Essonne thundering home for Sunshine Coast wins in the Listed Gold Coast Bracelet and the Listed Silk Stocking respectively.
Solidify had been an unlucky third on debut before he was successful at Te Rapa and a return trip to the Hamilton course saw the colt again triumph in style in Saturday’s Listed Waikato Equine Veterinary Centre Stakes over 1200 metres.
“Ryan (Elliott) thinks he is every bit as good as Sharp ‘N’ Smart, which is pretty exciting,” Rogerson said.
“I think the best part of his win was he never really handled the heavy ground that well, but when Ryan asked him for an effort he lengthened out and did it easy.
“I think he could be very smart and you have to pinch yourself a little to have a pair like him and Sharp ‘N’ Smart in the stable.”
Solidify was a touch tardy out of the barrier and settled back in the field before he urged him forward 600 metres from home.
He had the leaders within his sights at the top of the straight and finished relentlessly to put his rivals away with an abundance of authority to put the Queensland winter carnival firmly on the radar..
“We took Sharp ‘N’ Smart to Brisbane last winter and he was very unlucky not to have won both of his starts, beaten a nose first up, and then running fourth after suffering interference in the Group 1 JJ Atkins Stakes,” Rogerson said.
“We’re going to try and win it with Solidify this time, although it will depend on how he pulls up before we map out a final path.
“He could run at Pukekohe in the Listed Futurity Stakes on May 27 or he might go to Brisbane for the Group 2 Sires Produce Stakes on the same day and then to the Atkins on June 10.”
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.
She has a yearling colt by Reliable Man and is in foal again to the multiple Group 1-winning son of Dalakhani.
Rogerson purchased Solidify for $140,000 from the Westbury draft at last year’s New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale with Harvey remaining in the ownership group.