SHARP ‘N’ SMART
Sharp N Smart was the 3yo NZ horse of the year in 2022/23 among an amazing crop of talent
Sharp N Smart is by the powerful sire Redwood (High Chaparral) via the one-win race mare, Queen Margaret (Swiss Ace), and although the horse is bred to handle heavy conditions, he proved to be far more adept on dry ground. Sharp 'N' Smart was bought by New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame inductee Graeme Rogerson for $55,000 at the 2021 New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales.
Sharp ’N’ Smart earned $3 million as a three-year-old, a tally which saw him voted the country’s top galloper. He ran against an amazing crop of 3yos but jumped in distance quickly avoiding many of them and travelled to Australia to run in some major features.
Sharp 'N' Smart made a promising start to his career as an autumn two-year-old, winning at Listed level in New Zealand before a Queensland campaign that produced a second in the Listed The Phoenix and a fourth in the Gr.1 J. J. Atkins. The gelding took a big step forward in the spring of his three-year-old season, scoring back-to-back Group wins in the Gloaming Stakes and earning huge credit for winning the A$2.2 million Gr.1 Spring Champion Stakes, after a torrid wide run on a heavy track. He started favourite in the A$2.4 million Gr.1 VRC Derby and looked to have the race won only to throw it away by pulling up close to the post, going down by half a length. Figuring Sharp ’N’ Smart didn’t see the other horse coming with full cup blinkers on, Rogerson switched them for visor blinkers at his next start.
Sharp ’N’ Smart’s only two defeats after that came on heavy tracks. He was beaten three-quarters of a length in the Gr.1 Thorndon Mile fresh-up at Trentham after being trapped four and three wide, which was a huge effort. And a downpour on race morning wrecked the A$2.37 million Australian Derby for him when, from gate 17, Bowman reported it was like "driving a car with the wheels spinning". Rogerson rated Sharp ’N’ Smart’s two other Group one wins, in the $450,000 Herbie Dyke Stakes and $1 million New Zealand Derby as enormous, elevating him to a level seldom seen in recent years here.
Only the brilliant Dundeel (2013) and star, Bonecrusher (1986) won more Group One races, four in all, as three-year-olds. The horse resumed with a subpar performance in the Gr.1 Arrowfield Stud plate (1600m) at Hastings in September but returned to Ellerslie, running 3rd to Legarto over 1600m in the Gingernuts Salver. Just when the horse appeared back on track, he then ran 6th on Karaka Million night to Desert Lightning and also 6th to Legarto in the Gr.1 Herbie Dyke at Te Rapa with the team believing there was something definitely amiss.
Racing clubs in Victoria, New South Wales and Hong Kong were wooing Horse of the Year-in-waiting Sharp ’N’ Smart in 2024 as trainers Graeme and Debbie Rogerson mapped out a multi-million-dollar campaign aimed at the Melbourne Cup. Unfortunately, all that was put on hold after the horse developed a viral blood disorder that halted his 2024 campaign. Sharp ’N’ Smart’s earning potential may have taken a hit this year with the Melbourne spring carnival now off the cards, but the team are keen to aim towards the rich International meeting in Hong Kong in the Gr.1 Queen Elizabeth (2000m) in April, or more likely in December, when the NZ$5 million Hong Kong Cup (2000m) and NZ$4 million Hong Kong Vase (2400m) are run.
RACE RECORD - 18: 6-4-1
EARNINGS - $3,172,490
NZ Derby G1 (2023)
Herbie Dykes Stakes G1 (2023)
2nd Thorndon Mile G1 (2023)
2nd VRC Derby G1 (2022)
Champion G1 (2022)
Gloaming Stakes G3 (2022)