Savvy Dancer Dead Heats in Fielding Cup

A fantastic finish in the $50,000 Listed Ricoh Fielding Cup (2100m) has seen Karaka graduate Savvy Dancer (NZ) dead heat Saturday’s kiwi feature at Awapuni with the tough mare Jeu de Cartes (NZ).

In what was the closest of finishes, the judge declared that either Savvy Dancer (Savabeel), Jeu de Cartes (Stravinsky) or the late finishing Spiro (Pyrus), who flew the last 200 metres, could have claimed the event before the official result was announced.

Trained by Michael Moroney & Chad Ormsby, Savvy Dancer (ex Energetic Dancer) settled near last in the field after drawing wide in barrier 12. The five-year-old was forced to come wide on the turn with Noel Harris in the saddle and the son of Savabeel was prominent in the straight, winding up in the final stages to catch Jeu de Cartes right on the line.

The win was Savvy Dancer’s fourth of his 21 start career and his first at stakes level, giving his sire Savabeel his 20th stakes winner. It has been a successful week for the sire son of Zabeel with racing last weekend at Riccarton seeing his daughter Ray’s Girl win the Listed Canterbury Stakes.

Bred by Tim Stakemire, Savvy Dancer was pinhooked as a weanling by Luke & Mags Anderson from Brighthill Farm at New Zealand Bloodstock’s 2008 National Weanling, Broodmare & Mixed Bloodstock Sale for $60,000.

Savvy Dancer was then offered at the 2009 Karaka Select Sale where he was purchased by Paul Moroney Bloodstock from Dormello Stud for $70,000.

Raced by Garry Christini, Mike Moroney, Ruth Redwood, J Smith & Dave Trubshoe, Savvy Dancer has won over $50,000 in stakes and will now head to the Group 2 Counties Cup on November 24 where he is likely to meet Jeu de Cartes once again.