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Best yet to come with Opawa Jack
Opawa Jack (War Decree) has come of age in his four-year-old autumn preparation and his trainer Chrissy Bambry anticipates the best is still yet to come. The son of War Decree (War Front) showed early promise over staying distances and contested the New Zealand Derby (Gr 1, 2400m) last season, but a year down the track he has won three of his last five starts, comparatively on the Awapuni Synthetic over 1200 metres and in Heavy 10 track conditions at Wanganui. With more of a preference for the drier surface, Bambry has elected to target a 2000-metre race on the Cambridge Synthetic in a fortnight, with the suitable lead-in race closer to her Foxton base being a 1600-metre handicap at Otaki on Saturday. “He doesn’t really like a wet track, he was probably just the best horse on the day (at Wanganui),” Bambry said. “When it’s a little bit puggy like that he seems to handle it, but he doesn’t appreciate it loose. I think he’ll acquit himself well on Saturday, he’s well-weighted in that race but there’s a few wet trackers that will like it a bit more than he will. He should still be running well and it should tighten him up nicely for the Cambridge Synthetic final in the first week of August.”
Marsh hoping to end season on a high
Back and refreshed after escaping some of the coldest weeks of the New Zealand winter, Stephen Marsh is hoping the final weekend of 2023-24 will give his stable some momentum to take into the new season. The Cambridge trainer has enjoyed another outstanding year and went into Friday’s Riccarton meeting with 98 wins to his name. That ranks as the third most successful season of his career behind his totals of 104 in 2021-22 and 100 in 2022-23. Marsh has returned from an overseas holiday hoping Ortega (Reliable Man) can provide one last black-type success for the season when she heads to Otaki as a leading contender for Saturday’s Ryder Stakes (Listed, 1200m). “It’s been a fantastic season,” Marsh said. “I’ve just got back from an overseas holiday, and now I’m hoping to finish this season off strongly and then get stuck into the next one. It would be great if we could cap off the season with a bit of black type for Ortega on Saturday. She deserves to have a crack at some black type, and this looks a nice race to give her that opportunity. There’s some good form in it, but she’s one of only two winners, so she’s going to get her chance. She’ll cope with whatever track conditions she’s faced with.”
O’Sullivan and Scott seek strong finale at Te Rapa
Te Rapa has been the scene of plenty of this season’s success for Wexford Stables, and Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott are hoping to bring 2023-24 to a close with more of the same at the Hamilton track on Saturday. Coming to the end of their 11th season in partnership, the Matamata trainers have secured a career-best 63 winners this term and sit in third place in the premiership. They have won nine black-type races, and their runners have earned more than $3 million in stakes. O’Sullivan and Scott have eight horses set for Te Rapa this weekend, which is the final Saturday meeting of the season, headed by I Am Groot (Wrote) who will contest the $50,000 Property Brokers & Katie Walker 3YO (1400m). The son of Wrote (High Chaparral) was a maiden winner over this distance in late March, and he has followed that with two third-placed efforts and two fifth placings, including at Tauranga on his last start. “That last start run was at Tauranga, where horses that were close to the lead and along the rail were very hard to beat,” Scott said. “We might have got it wrong with our decision to ride him a fraction conservatively. He should be better placed on Saturday on a track that we think will suit him. He’ll parade looking as good as anything all day – his coat is amazing at the moment. We see him as a strong top-three chance.”
Hillis aiming to keep up winning momentum
Matamata trainer Wayne Hillis is hoping to record his third win of the week when he heads to Te Rapa on Saturday. Hillis kicked off the week in perfect fashion when Drop Of Something (Telperion) scored his second consecutive win in a 1600-metre contest at Hawera’s transferred meeting on Tuesday, while Runninwiththedevil (Belardo) was victorious at Cambridge on Wednesday. Hillis will have Did The Trick (Iffraaj) tackle the Property Brokers & Katie Walker 3YO at Te Rapa on Saturday. The lightly-raced three-year-old has won his last two starts on heavy footing, and Hillis believes he can feature once more on a similar surface at Te Rapa. “He seems to have found his form. He just needed a bit of time to work everything out and he seems to have come right now,” Hillis said. “He definitely likes it wet. It has been drying out the last couple of days, not that it is going to dry out that much, it will just make it puggy more than anything. It looks a better field on paper this time, there are a few in there with lighter weights, but he should acquit himself well.”
Kana scores for Cure Kids
Kana (Tivaci) did her bit for raising money for Cure Kids at the second annual Red Nose Raceday at Riccarton Synthetic on Friday. The Peter Didham-trained mare carried the red-and-white spotted Cure Kids silks to victory in the Prezzy Card Rating 75 (1200m), raising $1,000 for the charity, with LOVERACING.NZ dedicated to donating that sum for every winner donning the colours on the day. Didham said it was a great cause and he and his owners were happy to do their part in raising funds for Cure Kids. “Anything to support a charity is a good thing,” Didham said. “My owners were happy to do that for them (use the red nose day colours). It is a plan that we have had for a while, so it was good that it paid off and it was a great ride. I just felt we had to win another one on the dirt to get in (to the $100,000 race) because I think she will need at least two (wins) and we still might miss it. There have been a lot of dirt races in Christchurch, and a lot of winners, so it depends on who pays up. It would be a shame if she missed out, but she has had two wins and a third, so she is a chance.”
Ballymore stayer steps up at Rotorua
A rise in distance and heavy track conditions at Rotorua was the winning formula for Step In Time (Time Test) on Thursday, with the gelding causing a minor upset in a 2200-metre event. The son of Time Test (Dubawi) is trained at Matamata by Michael Moroney and Pam Gerard and came through well for a 2.3 lengths success over Roc Up Ralph (Roc De Cambes) under four-kilogram claimer Joe Nishizuka. Gerard was pleased to see the gelding back in winning form after breaking maidens three starts back over a mile at Matamata, also with Nishizuka in the saddle. “He’s not a big horse and easy to ride, so it’s good to make use of Joe’s apprentice claim, and he’s just been waiting to go up in trip,” Gerard said. “They walked and sprinted last time over a mile at Hastings, which didn’t suit him, and the ground was a bit better too. He’s kept stepping up this preparation, hasn’t put in a bad run, so it shows he’s maturing into being a competitive racehorse.”