Veteran teaches youngsters a winning lesson

Veteran performer Natsinga gave age and a beating to his Rating 85 rivals at Ruakaka on Saturday for the seventh win of his career. The nine-year-old had put the writing on the wall of an imminent return to top form when a fast-finishing fifth in the Whangarei Cup at his previous appearance.

Bred by Garry Chittick, the Danasinga gelding was a $44,000 purchase out of WS’s Premier Sale draft to Karaka in 2006 and he has now returned more than $145,000 to his connections. He is out of the former Gr 3 Cornwall Handicap winner Nat The Brat and a half-brother to three winners, including the stakes performer Vera Pro Gratis (O’Reilly) and the dam of the Listed Wanganui Guineas winner Takeanotherchance (No Excuse Needed).

Natsinga is trained at Matamata by Lance Noble and was ridden by Trudy Thornton. They settled off the early pace and came with a well-timed run to down the favourite King Zeus, five years the junior of the winner.