Well-bred 3YO stakes Derby claims

Regally-bred three-year-old Kick Buttowski will be set on a path toward the Gr 1 New Zealand Derby after opening his account at Tauranga this afternoon. The WS-bred and raced son of Encosta De Lago and the Listed Creswick Stakes winner Glam Slam (Pins) was an effortless winner for trainers Peter and Jacob McKay.

“His mother Glam Slam (winner of the Listed Creswick Stakes over 1200m at Flemington) was all speed and it’s a good, fast family, but this bloke just wants to stay,” Peter McKay said. “At his last start he got well back and came home late and I rang up Mark Chittick and said we’ll be forgetting any Guineas races and he’ll be on a Derby preparation.”

A previous third at Tauranga, Kick Buttowski stepped up to 2100 metres today and scored a hollow four and a-quarter length victory. “He’s beaten the older horses and when he kicked on the turn it was all over pretty quickly,” McKay said. “He’ll have a few days off now and then we’ll look toward the first of the three-year-old staying races and on to the Derby,” McKay said.

Kick Buttowski hails from a family that has served WS well and features Group One winners Glamour Puss and Vision And Power within its ranks.