Aegon becomes the first horse in history to win New Zealand 2000 Guineas and Karaka Million 3YO Classic.
Aegon (Sacred Falls) became the first horse to win both the New Zealand 2,000 Guineas (Gr 1, 1600m) and the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (RL, 1600m) when he won the lucrative race at Ellerslie on Saturday evening.
Trained by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, the son of the late Sacred Falls (O'Reilly) had not raced since his NZ 2,000 Guineas victory at Riccarton last November but had won a barrier trial at Matamata on January 12.
The race had been billed as a two horse clash between Aegon and Te Akau Racing's Amarelinha (Savabeel), who won the Eight Carat Classic (Gr 2, 1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, and it was those two who ran on in the straight and fought stride by stride in the closing stages, with the son of Sacred Falls coming out on top and scoring by a head. Montre Moi (Showcasing) was another half length back in third.
"It's a big thrill," Baker said. "We've been very patient with this horse, and the staff at home have done a great job with him. It's also a big achievement for my training partner Andrew, who selected him at the yearling sales.
"He'd never been tried right-handed before, but he was given a great ride from Leith Innes today and he's delivered on a big stage."
Aegon is owned by Zame Partnership who also raced Australian Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) winner Jon Snow (Iffraaj) with the Baker-Forsman training partnership.
"Aegon is a very good horse, and horses like him make trainers look good," Forsman said. "It's special to be racing a horse like this with such great people. It's a dream.
"Leith is a big-race rider and did a brilliant job today, and it's a great result. I'm very happy for the staff at home. We've had a bit of a lean time recently, we haven't had the strength of team that we had a few seasons ago, so this is a real boost for them."
Bought by Forsman for NZ$150,000 at Book 1 of the 2019 Karaka National Yearling Sale from the draft of Waikato Stud, Aegon is now unbeaten in four career starts and his earnings total $859,900.
He is one of four winners out of winning Zabeel (Sir Tristram) mare Toss Up. Further back this is the family of multiple Group 1 winner Daffodil (No Excuse Needed).
Sacred Falls, who died in December 2019, has five lots set to sell during Book 1 which gets underway at Karaka on Sunday.
