Regazzo breaks through for maiden win

Promising gelding Regazzo broke through for his maiden win at Te Rapa on Sunday when victorious in The Patron’s 1400.

The Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray-trained four-year-old pleased his conditioners last season when runner-up in the Listed Gingernuts Salver (2400m) at Ellerslie and they were happy to see him go one better last weekend.

“He’s a magnificent looking horse, he’s certainly very handsome,” Ritchie said.

“He showed plenty of promise as a three-year-old, he ran second in the Salver to White Noise.

“We considered him as a horse we’d get to a New Zealand Derby (Gr.1, 2400m) but he’s had two operations since his last start in April.

“He was making a little bit of a gurgling noise, so he had surgery for a wind issue and we gelded him as well.

“He’s a Tavistock out of a Zabeel mare, so he's got a Cup horse’s cross there.

“He's thrown very much to the Zabeel side, he's a beautiful bay with black points and he's not heavy.”

Ritchie didn’t hold any concerns with the Heavy8 track on Sunday and expected a good showing from his charge.

“He carries himself super well which is why we thought he’d probably handle the track a bit off and he won well,” Ritchie said.

“From his draw (11) he was stuck three-wide without cover and he was probably the strongest late.”

Ritchie now holds loftier ambitions with Regazzo.

“He won't be running round for $15,000 again. We’ll run him at the premier meetings or the $30,000 races from this point onwards,” he said.

“We’ll just try and bank as much money as we can to get through the grades from this point onwards.

“We see him as a Cups horse over the summer and if he progresses that way it's going to be exciting.

“He’ll take his place at either Waikato or Hastings towards the end of the month on one of those better days and we'll keep him to the Saturday racing after that and see how far we can get, but I am tipping he will go far.”

Regazzo was born and raised at Haunui Farm for breeder-owners Garry and Lyn Witters, he completed his early education with Derek Nolan and looks to have a promising future ahead of him.-NZ Racing Desk