Kudakulari completed a stakes winning double for Waikato Stud stallion Savabeel in the LR Canberra Guineas on Sunday.
Kudakulari (3g Savabeel – Oenotria by O’Reilly) is Indonesian for “fast horse”. He had won the Listed AJC Fernhill Stakes at Randwick in April 2010 but lost his way during the spring carnival.
The Kiwi bred colt pulled up with cardiac arrhythmia after a first-up failure in the Listed Run To The Rose and continued to go downhill with G1 failures in the Golden Rose, Caulfield Guineas and Victoria Derby.
Trainer Bart Cummings had Kudakulari gelded during a summer spell and the surgery sparked an immediate improvement. The master mapped out an autumn program starting with the Canberra Guineas over 1400m and he looked an altogether more genuine galloper first-up on Sunday.
Kudakulari was second last in the capacity field approaching the corner but powered home in the straight to cut down Kiwi bred filly Sworn To Secrecy (Keeper) by a half a length. The G3 Frank Packer Plate (2000m) at Randwick next month is his mid-term target.
Cummings paid $140,000 for Kudakulari from the Little Avondale Stud draft at the 2009 NZB Premier yearling sale. He is raced by Dato Tan Chin Nam and the Natural Nine Syndicate and is closely related to the G1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas winners Dorabella (Postponed) and Insouciant (Keeper).
Do Ra Mi started the weekend on a winning note for Savabeel in the G2 Kewney Stakes at Flemington on Saturday.