They say good things come in small packages, and the diminutive Magic Albert filly Orbity proved the saying correct at Awapuni on Saturday when she rounded off her juvenile campaign with a black-type victory.
While she wouldn’t win any beauty contests, the Cambridge youngster is all business on the racetrack and she proved to be a class above her rivals in the listed Ryder Stakes (1200m).
A time-honoured race usually run at Otaki but this year run at Awapuni because of track maintenance work, the Ryder Stakes always attracts a strong field and this year was no exception.
Six last-start winners lined up in the 12-horse field, with Orbity clearly the best performed juvenile leading in, with three wins from seven starts.
The well related filly improved that strike rate to a neat 50 per cent with a dominant 3½-length victory on Saturday, relishing the heavy (11) track conditions.
Testa Rossa gelding Weregoingtogetcha ran on stoutly late to grab second, with Elusive City filly Fascination Street battling on solidly for third.
The win was one of three on the day for leading hoop Matt Cameron.
“She’s not much to look at and she’s not very big or pretty, but she’s got a big heart and does everything professionally,” Cameron said.
Trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, Orbity had scored wins at Rotorua, Ruakaka and Te Awamutu prior to Saturday’s success at Awapuni.
Raced by long-time stable clients the Morton family, Orbity is out of the winning Jetball mare Jane Jetson, whose other winners include the stakes-performed Meet George (10 wins) and the multiple winners His Boy Elroy (six) and Spacely (five).

Intransigent again

The premier meeting in New Zealand last Saturday was at Te Rapa, where rising seven-year-old Intransigent landed another feature win in the listed Taumarunui Gold Cup (2100m).
The Kirsty Lawrence-trained Refuse to Bend gelding took out the Kiwifruit Cup at Tauranga in June, then finished second in the Parliamentary Handicap at Trentham at his next outing before returning to the winner’s stall on Saturday.
It was win number eight of a 50-start career, taking his prizemoney earnings past $NZ216,000 ($A188,432).
Intransigent was given a gun ride by veteran jockey David Walsh, who had no easy task when the horse jumped tardily from gate 16.
“We had to wait in the gates for quite a while and he missed it,” Walsh said. “There was a lot of speed on though.
“When I improved around them he got pushed out very wide and lugged a bit on the corner, but he kept finding the line.”
The winning pair held a quarter-length margin over runner-up Magna Carta (by His Royal Highness), who did the best of four runners for Donna and Dean Logan. Noble Warrior (Le Bec Fin) was a close-up third.
Intransigent is out of the Pentire mare Risible, a half-sister to the dams of well performed Australian gallopers Our Bahare, Cellarmaster and Second Coming.

Cauthen form holds up

Saturday’s juvenile maiden at Te Rapa over 1200m saw a number of the runners coming through the Te Rapa maiden on July 3 that impressive Darci Brahma colt Cauthen had won so easily by 8½ lengths.
Saturday’s race was won in strong fashion by Congressman, a son of the Gerry Harvey-owned stallion Conatus.
Out of the four-time winner Princess Zanzibar (by Royal Academy), Congressman was retained to race by Harvey’s NZ Thoroughbred Holdings group.
Trained by former top jockey Nigel Tiley, Congressman was 9½ lengths in arrears of Cauthen in third place when making his debut.
The runner-up to Congressman on Saturday, Cursive (by Darci Brahma), and third-placed Royal Dominance (Shinko King), finished fifth and seventh respectively behind Cauthen on July 3.
Cauthen, who is being aimed at the Caulfield Guineas by trainer Andrew Campbell, will make his Australian debut over 1000m at Moonee Valley this Saturday.

Guillotine gets a good one

Windsor Park Stud has had to be patient with its first-crop stallion Guillotine this season, but a brilliant debut win by his son Daniel in Singapore last Friday night gave a glimpse of what could be around the corner for the young stallion.
Making his debut for Laurie Laxon, the grey gelding lived up to the trial promise he’d displayed in New Zealand, scoring a runaway 7¼-length win.
It was the second winner for 2008 Feehan Stakes winner Guillotine, a son of Montjeu and half-brother to Melbourne Cup winner Efficient.
Although just two of his starters have won, Guillotine had a number of smart trial performers through the 2012/13 season that have not made their race debut yet.
A cracking-looking horse, Guillotine is a stallion that we will hear a lot more about in the next 12 months.