First winning strike for Almanac

A quick back-up and a rise in distance proved key factors in the Michael and Matthew Pitman-trained Almanac breaking his maiden.The son of Almanzor had previously finished sixth when galloped on at Riverton over 1400 metres and made no mistake when successful over a mile on the second day of the meeting.At his sixth appearance, the four-year-old improved from back in the field across the top to corner wide and finished stoutly for rider Kylie Williams to comfortably hold the upper hand at the post.We bred Almanac and he was originally purchased out of our New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale draft for $130,000 by Tony Pike before relocating to the Pitman’s Riccarton stable.He is the fourth winner for the Zabeel mare Lazaan, including the stakes performer Divine Power, and she is a half-sister to Marchand who won twice for us and was a dual black-type placegetter.The first dam Lashed was a top-quality mare and the daughter of Encosta De Lago’s seven victories featured the Zabeel Classic, New Zealand Stakes and Waikato International Stakes at Group 1 level.We sold Lazaan’s son of U S Navy Flag to Hong Kong interests at Karaka in 2022 for $160,000 and the dam is back in foal to the Group 1-winning son of War Front.