Racing
League
Rugby
Cricket
Golf
Motorsport
Combat Sports
Football
Netball
Basketball
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Rise Companions dominates Stella Artois Final
Kevin Robertson, LOVERACING.NZ News Desk • December 26th, 2025 9:12 pm
Rise Companions winning at Ellerslie on Boxing Day | Photo: Kenton Wright (Race Images)
An imperious performance by Rise Companions to waltz away with the prestigious Stella Artois 1500m Championship Final (1500m) has pundits questioning just where his ceiling could be.
The statuesque five-year-old son of Capitalist was gunning for his third win in succession with victory in the final event on an action-packed Boxing Day card at Ellerslie and didn’t disappoint as he romped clear to win by nearly three lengths in the hands of Masa Hashizume.
Those who supported the Simon and Katrina Alexander-prepared runner had some cause for concern when Rise Companions settled with only a handful of runners behind him early in the piece.
Hashizume didn’t share those concerns as he knew what he had underneath him and when he made his move on the former Hong Kong galloper he simply cruised past runners at the 200m to hit the front and ease to the line well clear of Sista Sugar and the late-finishing Sinhaman.
Hashizume admitted he never had a moment of concern despite being more than a dozen lengths from the leaders with 600m to run.
“He is just improving every time and he is just unreal,” Hashizume said.
“While he got back I didn’t want him to get too keen and I knew there was good pace in the race, so we decided to see what he has got and he showed he has got plenty. I think he could be anything.
“I didn’t push him in the last 50m and he didn’t even blow after he pulled up.”
Katrina Alexander was also struggling to describe the performance.
“You don’t want to give a field like that a head start, but I just don’t know what this horse is capable of,” she said.
“We do know the further he goes the better he will go, but it is interesting to see what he is going to develop into.
“We thought we would get this one out of the way and go home and plan where we go from here. He might get a bit of a break as he is still learning and it would be nice to reward him with a break and then look at something later on.
“I don’t think the Hong Kong life suited him, so it is nice to see him develop his personality more than anything. Masa comes and gallops him so it is nice to see how they are developing together.”
An A$110,000 yearling purchase in Australia, the now four-year-old entered the care of Hong Kong trainer Danny Shum, but didn’t race in the competitive racing jurisdiction, having been withdrawn from his debut race after sustaining a tendon injury, and subsequently headed to New Zealand where he joined the Alexander barn.
He has now won three of his five starts and more than $110,000 in prize money.
