Chase Gamble Pays off in Captain Cook Stakes

Manawatu trainer Stephen Nickalls was overwhelmed with excitement after Chase ran home for third in the Gr1 Captain Cook Stakes (1600m) at Trentham on Saturday, reports loveracing.nz. Chase (Zed-Dantessa, by Danasinga) was coming up against some seasoned Group 1 horses including Aegon, Tiptronic, Prise De Fer, and Vername, and Nickalls admitted to feeling more hopeful than confident driving down to Trentham on Saturday morning. The 6YO was beaten a length by race winner Prise De Fer and was half a length in arrears of runner-up Aegon, giving Nickalls one of his biggest moments in racing. “Tina (Comignaghi) rode him lovely. We took the blinkers off and he jumped a lot better and settled handier so wasn’t as far off them as he can do. He had a good trip, everything worked in his favour and he ran home well,” said Nickalls. While still coming down from the high of Saturday’s result, Nickalls remains unsure of which path they will take with Chase in the immediate future, but he said they are not afraid of tackling Group 1 company once more.

Chase and trainer Stephan Nickalls (pic: Grant Matthew)