Accidental Tourist made an impressive return to action at Hawera to earn the progressive three-year-old son of Westbury Stud resident Telperion a next-up black-type assignment.
The Gerry Harvey-bred and Mark Walker-trained representative returned from a lengthy break to demolish his rivals over 1200 metres on Sunday without been asked a serious question by rider Craig Grylls.
Meanwhile, Telperion’s associate stallion Reliable Man made his presence felt across the Tasman over the weekend with Lord Ardmore continuing his hot run of form to lock in cracks at future Group prizes.
Accidental Tourist made one appearance as a two-year-old and finished third at Te Aroha behind subsequent dual Group placegetter I Choose You and Grace ‘N’ Grey, who won next time out at the expense of the Karaka Million winner Dynastic.
He was then put aside after suffering from a bout of shin soreness and a lead-up win at the trials on a testing Te Rapa surface boosted confidence in his Hawera prospects.
Accidental Tourist sat close to the pace before showing sharp acceleration in the straight to score by a widening 1.3l from Reliable Man’s daughter Badgeringthewitness, a sister to multiple winner and stakes performer She’s A Maneater.
“I thought he could get through the ground alright based on what he did at the Te Rapa trials, although it did appear to be very testing there,” he said.
“He went badly shin sore after his first race, so we had to put him aside for a good break to let him grow into himself.
“He had come back well and I was keen to get him on a track with plenty of give in it to try and give him a good experience for his first run back.”
Walker was delighted with Accidental Tourist’s performance and is now keen to give him an opportunity at stakes level against his own age group.
“The way he won you would think he has a bright future ahead of him, so while the tracks stay wet, we might try for some black-type in the Wanganui Guineas at his next start,” he said.
Accidental Tourist was purchased out of Westbury’s draft to Karaka last year by Te Akau chief David Ellis for $80,000 and is a half-brother to the Listed Newmarket Handicap winner Red Striker.
They are out of the Encosta De Lago mare Megara, a half-sister to the dam of dual Group 1-winning sprinter Atomic Force., who foaled a sister in 2021 to Accidental Tourist before visiting El Roca.
Model professional Lord Ardmore will now shoot for a hat-trick of winter victories when he makes his next appearance.
The five-year-old followed up a front-running success at Rosehill when he came off a handy spot in the running at Randwick to post the fifth win of his 19-start career, that also features a further eight placings.
Lord Ardmore purred along in third spot on Saturday for Hugh Bowman before they hit the front halfway down the straight and boxed on strongly to score over 1800 metres.
“His fitness has improved and he will be better over 2000 metres. There’s a Group race for him back here in two weeks’ time, which will be perfect,” said trainer Chris Waller, referring to the Waller was referring to the G3 Premier's Cup.
“This horse is going from strength to strength and there are some nice race coming up for him. He got a nice run and Hughie is riding very well, as you would expect.”
Waller said races like the Listed Wyong Gold Cup and G3 Newcastle Gold Cup were other potential targets next month.
The G1 Metropolitan and A$2 million Five Diamonds, a race restricted to five-year-olds, might be longer term aims.
Lord Ardmore was bred by The Oaks Stud and purchased for $65,00 at Karaka by Go Racing, who also raced Reliable Man’s G1 New Zealand Oaks-winning daughter Miss Sentimental.
He began his career with the now retired Stephen McKee and was a maiden winner and ran fourth in both the G1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas and the G2 Avondale Guineas before joining Waller’s Sydney operation.