Photo: Kenton Wright
New Recruit (3 g U S Navy Flag – Enigmatic, by High Chaparral) provided a touching win for Ballymore Stables in the $25,000 Maiden 1600 metres on Saturday at Tauranga.
Trained by Pam Gerard, New Recruit provided the first victory in New Zealand since her former training partner Mike Moroney passed away on 27 February.
Moroney, who recorded over 50 Group One wins as a trainer, established Ballymore Stables in 1982 at Matamata, then set up stables in 1999 at Flemington, before preparing Brew (Sir Tristram) to win the 2000 Melbourne Cup (Gr. 1, 3200m).
Gerard joined Moroney in partnership in 2016, to run the stable in NZ, before training out of Ballymore Stables on her own account since mid-2024.
A horse Gerard has always had a good opinion of, New Recruit fought hard for fourth after working to lead in the Maiden 1600 metres on 12 February at Te Aroha, indicated in his recent work that improvement was apparent and he raced accordingly.
Although drawn one from the outside in barrier 11, New Recruit was electric from the gates to lead for jockey Jasmine Fawcett, settled to dictate terms, and after finding a good kick in the straight he remained resolute in staving off all challengers.
“He flew the gate fast and pretty much gained two lengths just from the jump, which is sort of what won the race for us,” Fawcett said.
“We were able to be in a positive position, in front, and just kicked off the corner.
“I galloped him at the start of the week and knew he was capable of doing that.”
In the race sponsored by Snow Williams & Arun Mehan Bayleys, New Recruit ran 1600 metres in 1:38.9 on Soft5 footing and paid $11.70 & $3.70 on the NZ TAB tote.
“It is a special win, and I’ve got to mention that a lot of the owners in New Recruit have shares in Coeur Volante IProisir), so I want to wish them good luck for the Group One later today at Rosehill,” Gerard said.
“Jasmine rode him in track work and seems to get a long with him. He’s a little bit fussy and a little bit awkward, and we’ve struggled with a few riders on him.
“He’s always shown us quite a bit of potential. We had to forget the run here over a mile in January when he missed the start, but he showed last time that he was starting to put it together.”
Owned by Ballymore Racing NZ Ltd, Ballymore Stables (Aust) Pty Ltd, W N Campbell, A Clarke, D C & P M Dean, T Fenech, F J Hilliar, G M Miles, D R Mitchell & S Palmer, New Recruit was selected by Paul Moroney Bloodstock and bought by Ballymore NZ for $75,000, from the draft of Koru Thoroughbreds, at the Karaka 2023 Book 1 Sale.
By former Valachi Downs sire U.S. Navy Flag (War Front), a triple Group One winner, who now stands at The Oaks Stud, New Recruit is out of Enigmatic, by world renowned sire High Chaparral (Sadler’s Wells).
New Recruit is from one of the best families in the New Zealand stud book, known by some as the Moore family, with fourth dam Quibble (Grosvenor), a half-sister to 14-time winner Solveig, each out of Soliloquy (Sobig), the foundation mare for Richard Moore.
New Recruit carries a cross of breed shaping Champion Sire Sadler’s Wells, on the dam side of U.S. Navy Flag and sire line of High Chaparral.
New Recruit was strapped by racing manager Michael Thompson.