Mark Oulaghan is keeping his options open with three runners entered in Friday’s Harcourts Otaki Raukawa Cup (2100m), all of whom may head in different directions.
The first of Oulaghan’s representatives is Jack Morrison (NZ) (Darci Brahma), a force to be reckoned with on all-weather tracks, as shown in all of his five victories coming on the Awapuni Synthetic. He has added two of those in his last two starts, and with an open staying race at that venue on Sunday, that is the probable direction for the son of Darci Brahma.
“We’re leaving our options open a bit, nominations were quite light in that field, but he’ll more than likely go to the synthetic at Awapuni,” Oulaghan said. “He seems to handle his racing pretty well, but he probably prefers the track a bit better than it’ll be at Otaki.
“I think he goes more like a staying sort of horse, but it’s a bit harder to gauge on the synthetic. It’s quite a frontrunners track, they seem to get out and cruise along, and the ones that can stick on seem to get the chocolates.”
Having suffered only one defeat on the surface, Oulaghan is considering venturing further afield with his charge, with the $100,000 Polytrack Championship (2000m) held at Cambridge in early August.
“We’d definitely have to have a look at that for him,” he said.
10-win gelding Semper Magico (NZ) (Per Incanto) will resume on Friday, but Oulaghan is yet to decide whether he’ll tackle the Cup and a 59kg impost, or the Cavallo Farms and Chris Rutten Bloodstock Handicap (1600m), where he is a clear 62.5kg topweight.
The Per Incanto nine-year-old placed in a Listed Wanganui Cup (2040m) a couple of years ago, and more recently, he made a successful switch to hurdling, with a win and a couple of placings last term.
“He seemed to spell alright and has just taken a wee while to come up,” Oulaghan said. “He’ll probably need the run on Friday, but at least it kicks him off and gets him going.
“We’ll give him a few flat runs to condition him up, then we’ll look at stepping him over the fences somewhere later in the season.
“I had initially thought the mile for him, but looking at the nominations, the 2000m may be the softer option.”
The one Oulaghan runner assured to start in the Cup is Pinkerton (NZ) (Niagara), appearing second-up after resuming at Trentham earlier this month.
“He’ll run and he’s perky at the moment,” Oulaghan said.