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Agera aces open-class test
Richard Edmunds, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • September 14th, 2025 5:09 pm
Agera and Matt Cartwright return to scale after winning the Vision Complete Earthworks/Stronger Together (1600m) at Te Rapa | Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
Improving six-year-old Agera stepped into open company for the first time in Sunday’s Vision Complete Earthworks/Stronger Together (1600m) at Te Rapa, and he passed that test and carried on his winning way.
The $50,000 race was the third win from four starts in the 2025-26 season for Agera. The Complacent gelding scored back-to-back wins on the Cambridge synthetic track in August, then carried 62kg into a close sixth behind Mizella in a 1600m Rating 75 on Proisir Plate Day at Ellerslie last Saturday.
Cambridge trainer Tony Pike backed Agera up eight days later at Te Rapa, rising in class while dropping sharply in weight to 54kg.
Jockey Matt Cartwright took up a prominent position on the outside of the front-running Gigi, then pressed forward and took command at the home turn.
Despite drifting towards the outside, Agera forged clear down the straight and never looked like being caught. He went on to win by two and a quarter lengths from Aftermath. Gigi finished another length and a half away in third, while Group One horses Sharp ‘N’ Smart and Ladies Man ran fourth and fifth under big weights.
“It was good to see him step up into open company today and continue the good form that he’d been putting together in the lower grades,” Pike said.
“I thought it was a brave effort last week under his big weight at Ellerslie. Dropping to 54kg today made a massive difference and the rain-affected ground seemed to suit him well.
“He hasn’t been the soundest horse at times in his career, but now that he’s getting a bit older, he’s developed into a stronger and more mature horse and has found a real purple patch of form in this campaign.
“He does need that bit of cut in the ground, so if the tracks continue to be rain-affected for a few more weeks, a race like the Matamata Cup (Listed, 1600m) could be a nice target for him to aim at.”
The $80,000 Team Wealleans Matamata Cup will be run on October 4.
Agera was bred by Hamish and Karyn McQuade and is out of the Pentire mare Shelly Bee, whose other four winning progeny include the Listed Ryder Stakes (1200m) winner Ima Roca Bee.
Mapperley Stud offered Agera in Book 2 of Karaka 2021, where Waikato Bloodstock bought him for $70,000.
Agera has now had 22 starts for five wins, eight placings and $160,240 in prize-money. – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk.
