Words by Richard Edmunds (TDN Aus/NZ)
Back-to-back stakes wins have made it an extra-special festive season for expat New Zealand trainer John Sargent. Now based at Randwick, Sargent struck black-type gold twice in the space of 24 hours with New Zealand-bred mares Luvaluva (NZ) and Tinkermosa (NZ).
A former high-class 3-year-old, Luvaluva (Mastercraftsman {Ire}) returned to winning form in the G3 Summer Cup at Randwick. The following day at Gosford, Tinkermosa (Alamosa {NZ}) earned her first black type with a victory in the G3 Belle of the Turf S.
“It was a fantastic couple of days,” Sargent said. “It’s just so satisfying to see both of those nice mares back in winning form.”
Luvaluva was a three-time stakes winner as a 3-year-old, capturing the G2 Wakeful S., G3 Keith F. Nolan Classic and G3 Adrian Knox S.
The Summer Cup was her first win since the Adrian Knox in April of 2018, but she had finished in the top five in nine stakes races in between, including a second in the G3 Aspiration Quality, a third placing in a hit-and-run raid on her former homeland’s G1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ S., and a fifth in the G1 Doomben Cup.
“She’s consistently been so competitive in good company,” Sargent said. “She’s just taken a little while to get back into that winning form, now that she’s an older horse and racing against older horses.
“But she’s always had the ability, and now that she’s broken through for that Summer Cup win, we can carry on with her with a little bit more confidence.
“We will either keep her ticking over for another run in her current campaign, or turn her out for a break and target the autumn with her. That’s a decision we’ll make over the next few days.”
Sargent paid $55,000 to buy Luvaluva at the 2016 New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale. The winner of five of her 27 starts, she has earned $766,014 in prize-money.
Tinkermosa, meanwhile, was a $50,000 purchase at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale. The Belle of the Turf S. was her fifth win from 23 starts, lifting her stakes earnings to $274,240.
She is by Alamosa (NZ), who also sired Sargent’s VRC Oaks winner Kirramosa (NZ).
Friday’s win was a hugely satisfying turnaround for Tinkermosa, who suffered cardiac arrhythmia when she tailed the field home at Randwick in her previous start on December 7.
“She turned things right around, which was just great to see,” Sargent said. “She’d previously won over the same course and distance, with the same jockey (Jeff Penza), so she had a few things in her favour.
“Winning a Group 3 race is also hugely significant for her breeding value. It’s a nice race to target to try to get some black type for a mare – I’ve won it before (with Cathay Lady (Exceed and Excel) in 2013), and it was very pleasing to do it again.”
Sargent is now turning his attention to finding fillies of a similar ilk at the upcoming New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale at Karaka.
“These sorts of results certainly put a bit of a spring in your step heading into the yearling sales season,” he said. “They’re both lovely New Zealand-bred mares, and I’ll definitely head back over there to try to buy some more of the same sorts of horses.
“The sprinting types over here are so hard to come by, very expensive, but I reckon there’s great value with these types of horses that I like to look for back home in New Zealand.”
Original Source: https://www.tdnausnz.com.au/edition/2019-12-29/sargent-savours-stakes-double?fbclid=IwAR2KzhjGq7kFHQvKyDKtEGClnEP1A_EVEVkyAaIrz5DESJz_L-EFzEOg4Mo
