PANSPACIFICFLIGHT three-year-old Naholo did just about the impossible in his debut run at Ashburton on 16 November — motherless last at the 800 metres in a big field he came wide on the track to storm to his maiden victory.
Naholo was a hot favourite for driver Ricky May. Now we know why. He came six-wide at the top of the straight and, according to the commentator, was still a dozen lengths behind them at that stage.
Click here to watch Naholo’s win
Horses just don’t do this at Ashburton, which, despite the length of the straight, does not favour runners coming from back of the field.
A $22,000 purchase at last year’s yearling sales, Naholo is out of the Badlands Hanover mare Truely Jaccka, who has left the good Australian winners Fliteoftheconcords and Bettor Shape. He’s trained by Brendon Hill.
His full brother Von Richthofen, at 80 to one, put in a nice run for fifth at the Wyndham meeting on 19 November.