ITS OUR SHOWTIME wins stylishly at Pukekohe

After trialling superbly at Cambridge in early January, Its Our Showtime (4 m Showcasing – Be Inspired, by Zabeel) resumed with an impressive victory in the $20,000 Mount Shop Rating 65 1200 metres on Saturday at Pukekohe, to win for the send time in her 7 race starts career.

An easy winner in May for the Fortuna Its Our Showtime Syndicate  she had been patiently handled since then by trainers Stephen Autridge & Jamie Richards and it was a more furnished article that fronted recently at the trials on 10 January at Cambridge.

The resultant fourth placing at the trials, without rider Opie Bosson moving a muscle, behind three stakes performers was enough for her to start a $3.50 & $1.60 favourite on the tote ($3.20 & $1.35 fixed).

David Ellis, Te Akau principal, picked up the story on her purchase: “After the yearling sales that year (2014) I hadn’t bought enough horses and John Galvin wanted to syndicate another horse. I looked at fifteen horses that were for sale in the paddock and I rang John and said I’d seen a horse in Cambridge that was owned by James Chapman of Jamieson Park. She was out of a Zabeel mare. So John and I inspected the horse,  purchased her on the spot (subject to a Vet check), and John  syndicated her”.

Away well from a tricky draw to settle in fifth, Its Our Showtime was pushed three wide at the 800m but rider Cameron Lammas never panicked. He kept her balanced rounding the home turn, quickened on to lead at the 300m and after changing stride a furlong out she came clear to win easily. Under a substantial weight impost (58.5kgs), and resuming off 203 days, Its Our Showtime galloped to a very good time of 1:10.9, last 600m in 33.9, for the 1200 metres on Dead4 footing. Click HERE to see Race Video replay.

“Obviously she’s a very talented mare and Steve and Jamie have been very patient with her,” said  Fortuna’s John Galvin “She’s had a couple of injury setbacks throughout her career, but she won her Maiden race by four lengths last autumn, was unlucky when beaten a nose at Ruakaka, and the team think quite a lot of her. They feel she can be right up there with the best of them, so we’ll take her along quietly and see where we finish up. She’s a lovely athletic mare, doesn’t carry a lot of condition, so each campaign needs to see her lightly raced . In the run today she was three wide at times, four wide as they turned, but kicked away strongly and withheld all the challengers. It was her first run back for over six months, so it was a nice result.”

ITS OUR SHOWTIME is raced by the Fortuna Its Our Showtime Syndicate, an ownership group of 33 individuals