![\"Geneva](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/breednet-images-geneva-30700.jpg\")
<\/p>\nLast start Group Three winner Geneva has earned his place in Saturday\u2019s Gr.1 South Australian Derby (2500m), marking trainer Kylie Hoskin\u2019s first trans-Tasman campaign.<\/p>\n
Winner of the Gr.3 Manawatu Classic (2100m) following a third-placing in the Gr.1 New Zealand Derby (2400m), Geneva\u2019s preparation on the track has been smooth sailing, but his journey across the Tasman has been anything but.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Despite some travel hiccups, there is no dampening Hoskin\u2019s enthusiasm for the challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s really exciting to be contesting a Group One in Australia,\u201d Hoskin said. \u201cYou always hope you’re going to have one good enough to get over here, so it’s very exciting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe travel has been a bit of a nightmare as the plane we were originally scheduled to fly to Melbourne on had an engine issue and was delayed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plan was to fly over here and then head up to Aaron Bain\u2019s at the old Lindsay Park at Angaston.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was going to have us for the week, but we missed our interstate truck. So we’re currently at Ballarat at Henry Dwyer’s and everyone’s been super helpful.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is heading to Adelaide on Thursday night because that is the last interstate truck, so we’ve had to pivot a bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rory Hutchings, who was aboard the Time Test gelding at his most recent victory at Trentham, has returned to Australia and retains the ride.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is good to have him on because the horse can be a little bit tough in the running,\u201d Hoskin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe doesn’t always want to settle, and Rory rode him perfectly at Trentham and knows the horse well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The winner of three of his 12 starts, Geneva has raced every month between August and March and enters Saturday\u2019s contest with five weeks between runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve spaced a lot of his races, so he’s often had a month in between runs,\u201d Hoskin said. \u201cHe’s a naturally fit horse. I don’t have to pile a heap of work into him. He eats well, and he’s a pretty calm and cool character. I’m not worried about the fact he’s been up a while.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bred and raced by John and Mark Carter, along with their sister Rachael under the Jomara Bloodstock banner, Geneva has been the subject of overseas interest throughout his career from the moment he made a winning debut as a two-year-old.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe owners sent me a few horses last season and out of that, I’ve had Geneva and also Oratia Beauty, who is stakes placed. I’ve been lucky to have a couple of nice ones for them with the first batch they sent me,\u201d Hoskin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’ve had plenty of offers for him, seven-figures at one stage, but he doesn’t scope very well. So that has meant he’s stayed with me and it\u2019s great to see him continue to race so well.<\/p>\n
\u201cMorphettville should suit him as he likes to go left-handed and we already know the distance won\u2019t be a problem as he handled the distance in the New Zealand Derby, even despite copping some interference in the home straight.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win a Group One in Australia would honestly be a dream come true.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just can’t even imagine how excited I would be. It’s all the blood, sweat and tears, the early mornings and time away from your family. It would just be mind-blowing.\u201d \u2013 NZ Racing Desk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last start Group Three winner Geneva has earned his place in Saturday\u2019s Gr.1 South Australian Derby (2500m), marking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-401816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}