PRINCE HENRY victorious at Taupo today on debut

3yo Gelding PRINCE HENRY (Henrythenavigator-Ocean of Tears) put in a commanding performance at his race day debut at Taupo today. A well performed trialist, confidence in the camp was high for a bold showing, although punters thought differently, allowing the horse to drift out to $13 on the TAB. With the very experienced senior jockey, Leith Innes aboard, the race plan was to use PRINCE HENRY’S gate speed to jump well and race right on the speed, however, the horse just dwelt slightly as they jumped and with a hot pace on, Innes chose to take a hold of the horse and let him just bowl along. As they came past the 600 metre mark, Innes rode PRINCE HENRY hard to move up the leaders, was four to five horse widths wide as they turned, but under a vigorous ride in the straight PRINCE HENRY responded, keeping his stable mate SONSY at bay, going to the line three quarters of a length clear. Click HERE to see  video replay

Fortuna Director, John Galvin was naturally delighted, “We have always thought that this horse has more than his share of ability; that was a strong field of Maiden runners out there today and to win like that, with what was a tough run on debut,  augers well for his future prospects.”

PRINCE HENRY, trained by Jason Bridgman of Te Akau Racing, was acquired from Hallmark Stud after Fortuna Selector David Ellis had given the horse a big tick after being pointed in his direction by Danny Rolston of New Zealand Bloodstock in July 2013. He is owned by the Fortuna Prince Henry Syndicate made up of 26 individuals, many of them first time owners.