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Grays hunting local riches
Joshua Smith, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • August 2nd, 2025 12:39 pm
Cosentino will contest the $100,000 Japac Homes Polytrack Championship (1400m) at Awapuni on Sunday | Photo: Peter Rubery
Local trainers Kevin and Stephen Gray will head to Awapuni on Sunday with a spring in their step as they get set to line-up two live chances in the $100,000 Japac Homes Polytrack Championship (1400m).
Exciting sprinter Cosentino will be the leading light for the stable, having won two of his last three starts on the track, and finished in a dead heat for second in his other outing.
Stephen Gray has plenty of time for the four-year-old son of El Roca, and while he has yet to be tested over further than 1200m, he believes he should have no problem over the extra ground.
“Over 1200m he would be extremely hard to beat, but we didn’t want to take him down south, he is only a young horse, and we think on the grass he will be even better,” Gray said. “He will run really well.”
He will be ridden by in-form hoop Bruno Queiroz from barrier 14, and he sits atop of the TAB market at $2.70 ahead of the Mark Walker and Sam Bergerson-trained Stonybreck at $5.50.
“The wide draw is a bit of a concern, but it is what it is,” Gray said.
Following Sunday’s run, Gray is looking forward to testing his charge on the grass when tracks improve.
“He is a sharp horse and a strong headed horse, and I think by running him on the all-weather in better ground he has just got his confidence,” he said.
“In his last start I thought he was impressive the way he did it. I think he has got a good future in time, he has just mentally been a really difficult, tough horse.”
The stable will also be represented in the $100,000 feature by Tears Of Victory, who has won her last two starts on the track, and will be ridden by apprentice jockey Toni Davies from barrier four.
“Tears Of Victory has done nothing wrong and she has been running well,” Gray said. “She has got a light weight and a good barrier draw, so she will be right there in the finish.”
On the undercard, Gray is looking forward to Exaggeration lining up in the Checkhome Building Inspections 1400 and Toronto making their debut in the Courtesy Ford Manawatu 1000.
Exaggeration won on debut at the track last month before being beaten by stablemate Tears Of Victory a fortnight ago, and Gray is expecting him to add to his winning tally this weekend.
“He should have beaten the mare the other day, he was just probably held up for a long time,” Gray said. “He is a very good horse.
“I have run him on the all-weather to keep him off the bog tracks and keep him in work, and it is nice that he gets into a $25,000 race against his own grade with a good barrier draw (3) and jockey (Bruno Queiroz). The horse is going to be hard to beat.”
Gray is also upbeat about Toronto’s chances.
“He is a very promising horse that I brought back from Singapore, and he had an injury problem over there,” he said. “He has immense potential.
“I don’t want to run him on a bog track, I think that the all-weather is good for him. He will be in the first three for sure.”
