So Casual
Encyclopedia
So Casual is a Thoroughbred
racehorse who won the New Zealand Derby
in record time in 1998.
Although not the star in his two-year-old year, So Casual ran extremely well in his first season of racing and never finished further back than third. He ran second in two Group 1 races at two, behind Happyanunoit and Zola.
Early in his three-year-old season he had to settle for minor placings too, keeping his perfect record of being in the first three at every start intact as he finished second in the 2000 Guineas to Danske and third in the Avondale Guineas to Kelt Capital Stakes
winner Just Call Me Sir.
But in the Derby he finally got his well-deserved first major win, and he made up for lost time with an extraordinary performance. Ridden by Australian jockey Damien Oliver, So Casual turned the tables on all who had narrowly beaten him to date by winning the Derby in a time of 2:24.80, a track and national record for 2400m (12 furlongs) that still stands 9 years later.
Struggling with soundness after his Derby win, So Casual didn't often show his best in subsequent starts, although he did return to the winners' circle on Derby Day once again in the King's Plate the following year.
He was eventually retired after another unsuccessful return from an injury-enforced layoff in early 2002.
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorse who won the New Zealand Derby
New Zealand Derby
The New Zealand Derby is a set-weights Thoroughbred horserace for three-year-old, run over a distance of 2,400 metres at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand. It is held on the first Saturday in March, as the opening day of Auckland Cup Week. From 2009, it was run for a purse of $2.2...
in record time in 1998.
Although not the star in his two-year-old year, So Casual ran extremely well in his first season of racing and never finished further back than third. He ran second in two Group 1 races at two, behind Happyanunoit and Zola.
Early in his three-year-old season he had to settle for minor placings too, keeping his perfect record of being in the first three at every start intact as he finished second in the 2000 Guineas to Danske and third in the Avondale Guineas to Kelt Capital Stakes
Kelt Capital Stakes
The Kit Ormond Memorial Spring Classic is a Thoroughbred horse race run at Hastings Racecourse in Hawke's Bay and is New Zealand's richest weight-for-age horse race...
winner Just Call Me Sir.
But in the Derby he finally got his well-deserved first major win, and he made up for lost time with an extraordinary performance. Ridden by Australian jockey Damien Oliver, So Casual turned the tables on all who had narrowly beaten him to date by winning the Derby in a time of 2:24.80, a track and national record for 2400m (12 furlongs) that still stands 9 years later.
Struggling with soundness after his Derby win, So Casual didn't often show his best in subsequent starts, although he did return to the winners' circle on Derby Day once again in the King's Plate the following year.
He was eventually retired after another unsuccessful return from an injury-enforced layoff in early 2002.