Dugan (Hayden Tinsley) gets the better of Aaja Nachie in the Castletown Stakes at Wanganui (June 1, 2013)
Spicer Thoroughbreds New Zealander DUGAN won Race 4 at Wanganui on Sat 1/6 in fine form.
Well yesterday was just fantastic, Hayden Tinsley – take a bow for a gem of a ride, and what about the fight in Dugan, just terrific!!
John rang yesterday and said to wish everyone Congratulations as it’s not always easy making the jump to stakes level and we did it, in fine fashion…
John said he will let the dust settle for a few days’ and then make a decision whether we give him another run or turn him out for a break.
– BRAD
The local press is taking a liking to Dugan too…
Dugan sets up trans-Tasman double for Sargent
Sat, 01 Jun 2013 – Dennis Ryan
Late emerging juvenile Dugan set up a trans-Tasman feature double for John Sargent with a determined victory in the $50,000 Turkington Forestry Castletown Stakes at Wanganui today.
Two hours later in Brisbane, stablemate Quintessential marked the first anniversary of her Queensland Oaks success by adding the A$250,000 Eagle Farm Cup.
“It’s not a bad double to get between here and home,” said Sargent from Brisbane, where Quintessential is his only Queensland winter carnival candidate. “It was a gutsy run from the mare after she was headed by Manighar, so it’s all systems go for the Brisbane Cup now.”
Quintessential in fact had to survive a protest from the connections of Manighar, alleging interference in the early stages of the race, but the protest was dismissed.
There was no such complication in Dugan’s Wanganui victory, even allowing the winning margin was only a head. In the skilled hands of Hayden Tinsley, the Darci Brahma gelding came with the last run to edge out fellow northern visitor Aaja Nachie.
Stepping up form an 800-metre debut win 10 days earlier, Aaja Nachie put in a big effort to set the pace and go down by just a head. Opaki-trained Mossimo, who had finished third to Dugan at Awapuni last month, put in a big finishing effort to take third three-quarters of a length away.
Dugan had broken through for his first win from five starts at Awapuni a fortnight ago, when he was considered lucky to hold out the green runner-up Goodn’targ. That filly was a rival again today but she never emerged from the rear and beat only one other runner.
Sargent trains Dugan for an Australian-based syndicate headed by Brad Spicer, who is also the principal in the ownership of the Sargent-trained Choice Bro, the winner of last year’s Gr. 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes.
“I’ve known Brad for a while now and it’s great to be able to do the business for him,” commented Sargent, who has no set plans for Dugan. “I’ll just wait and see how he comes through this race. There’s not a lot of him and he’s going to be a lot stronger once he’s fully mature.
“It could work out that we’ll ease up on him now as I think he’ll be a lot better in the spring.”
