The step up to middle distance racing is bringing out the best in the Tarzino five-year-old Endean Ace.
The son of the Westbury Stud stallion had finished third at Tauranga in his first attempt over ground and at Te Rapa on Saturday he produced a dominant display to win over 2100 metres at his fifth appearance.
Endean Ace lobbed along in midfield with cover before he began to edge forward 500 metres and from and a sustained finish saw him stride clear to score by a length and a-half.
Apprentice Ngakau Hailey was having his first ride on the gelding and was suitably impressed by the performance.
“He’d been knocking on the door and when he goes up in class he’ll match them, he’s a nice staying type,” he said.
“He went to sleep down the back and, when I asked him, he showed a good turn of foot.”
Endean Ace is trained by Shelley Wright and she had been expecting a bold showing from her charge.
“He was on home ground so I’m very happy with him, he had been putting in some really good work,” she said.
“I’m very pleased with him and lucky to have the opportunity.”
Endean Ace boasts a strong staying pedigree and is a half-brother to the six-time winner and Group performer Khan Hunter.
Their dam is the unraced Pentire mare Penaka and she is a half-sister to the G3 Rotorua Cup winner The Good Fight and the Listed Aspiration Handicap winner Pravana.
They are out of the G2 Taranaki Cup winner and G1 New Zealand Oaks runner-up Pravda, whose brother Cronus won the G1 Adelaide Cup, and the family of former champion filly and three-time Group 1 winner Samantha Miss.
