Another winning strike for Cannon Hill

Cannon Hill has already fashioned a tidy record from a handful of appearances and trainer Tony Pike is confident the best is yet to come.

The progressive son of Ardrossan broke his maiden at his third start when resuming at Matamata
and followed up with victory over 1300 metres in a competitive three-year-old event at Hastings on Saturday afternoon.

Cannon Hill had originally dead-heated for first, but a subsequent inquiry overturned the result and handed the race to the Waikato Stud graduate on his own.

“He is a horse that we’ve always liked. He’s still learning his craft and is a bit immature and weak so he’ll continue to improve and we’ll look for a nice three-year-old race for him over Christmas,” Pike said.

Cannon Hill sat in second spot to the turn and knuckled down strongly in the closing stages.

“He’s just a bit green and I thought we were going to run second until those last few strides,” rider Opie Bosson said.

He was bred by Waikato Stud who remained in the ownership after Pike bought the colt out of the Matamata nursery’s draft at New Zealand Bloodstock’s National Yearling Sale for $150,000.

Cannon Hill is the first foal of the unraced Pins mare Vanilla Essence who is a sister to the Lion Red Plate winner Raid, dam of the dual black type winner Night Raid, from the family of dual Group 1 winner Stratum Star.

A brother to Cannon Hill was offered on behalf of Waikato Stud by Sledmere Stud at this year’s Inglis Classic Yearling Sale where he was purchased by Group 1 Bloodstock for A$260,000 and Vanilla Ice is due to foal to Savabeel.

ARDROSSAN strikes at Hastings 👊🏻 WS-bred & -sold 3YO colt, Cannon Hill (ex Vanilla Essence) goes back-to-back under @opie_bosson for @pikeracingnz. A $150k @KarakaChat buy for his trainer, he’s a nice one to have retained a share in. Congrats to our fellow connections 🥳 pic.twitter.com/7xtK5tpF8w

— Waikato Stud (@WaikatoStud) October 13, 2023