Krug Powerful and Perfect in Flying Stakes Victory

Perfect is the only way to sum up the powerful victory Krug (NZ) (Bettor’s Delight) delivered in the Group Two $49,000 Vero Three-Year-Old Flying Stakes (1980m) at Addington on Friday night. 

 

The Cran and Chrissie Dalgety-trained star showed how hard he is going to be to catch in the upcoming $200,000 Group One Diamond Creek Farm New Zealand Derby (2600m) by producing a brilliant front-running display.

 

Cran Dalgety was expecting a strong performance in Krug’s first race since he stunned harness racing fans with his jaw-dropping victory in the $192,000 Group One Woodlands Northern Derby (2700m) at Alexandra Park earlier this month.

 

But the trainer admitted he was not expecting his star three-year-old to produce such an empathic display on Friday night.

 

“I was expecting him to go a very good race but I didn’t think he would come out and win like he did.”

“He is just in a great zone at the moment and we couldn’t be happier with him.”

 

Krug was purchased by Kentuckiana Lodge for $155,000 at NZB Standardbred’s 2019 National Yearling Sale in Christchurch from Smolenski Stables’ draft.

 

His victory continued an incredible ride for owners Chrissie Dalgety, Mike Hanning, Kevin McKerrow, Gary Merlo, Phil and Margaret Creighton, Grant Dickey and Ken Cummings.

 

Reunited with regular driver Blair Orange, Krug went straight to the lead and never gave his rivals even a slight look in as he powered away to win by more than three lengths.

 

 “We didn’t really get into talking about too many tactics before the race, I just said to Blair go out there and drive him on your instincts,” Dalgety said.

 

“Blair summed up the race perfectly, like he always does.”

“We have been fortunate enough to have a bit of success with this horse and Blair deserves a lot of credit for the way he has handled him.”

 

New Zealand Derby lead-ups do not come much more perfect than the one Krug delivered on Friday night.

 

The Dalgety stable will now focus on priming the colt for his quest for a second Derby title in just his second attempt on 9 April. 

 

“That run was exactly what we were looking for ahead of the Derby,” Dalgety said.

“He ran in a super time and has had a good hit-out, we couldn’t have asked for much more, really.”

“Now we have got two weeks to put the polish on him for the Derby and we can’t wait.”

 

Krug stopped the clock in a sensational 2-20.6 time, producing a slick 1-54.2 mile rate.

 

NZB Standardbred graduates dominated Friday night’s Vero Three-Year-Old Flying Stakes, with nine of the 11 runners purchased from the National Yearling Sale filling nine of the first ten placings.
 

Vendor	Smolenski Stables
Purchaser	Kentuckiana Lodge
Breeding	Bettor’s Delight – Champagne Princess
Sale	Lot 381, 2019 Christchurch National Yearling Sale, $155,000
Bred by	Est J W Smolenski