You only have to be in Auckland a few days to know that a lot of the art world’s attention is taken by the Artspace Stakes set to run early this month. As in past events, offshore horses are well represented on the card with the smart money being almost evenly divided between the Spanish filly Mercedes Vicente and New Zealand bred horse Simon Rees currently stabled in Lithuania. Both have been trained at Govett-Brewster, an outstanding stable that has brought many of its colts through to some big wins in meetings in Dunedin and Wellington over the years. The only other horse sparking any action at the tote is Heather Galbraith. Recently taken on by the Massey stables she is an unlikely starter, but as punters have discovered in the past, this horse can often be a surprise late entry in feature races and should certainly not to be ignored.
Image: the American horse B Butler winning the 2006 Artspace Stakes
