Cambridge trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray are hoping to spend plenty of time on the road this spring with a pair of The Oaks Stud’s representatives.
The training partnership earned a winning treble across the weekend, with two of those carrying the familiar Oaks silks, headlined by Tajana’s gutsy victory in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (1400m) at Ellerslie on Saturday.
The $150,000 contest was pinned as a match race between the Darci Brahma filly and rising star Lollapalooza, and it proved to be just that, with the former coming out on top by a nose.
Ritchie said Tajana had pulled up well from the race, with their focus now turning to the Gr.2 Windsor Park Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) back at Ellerslie on October 18.
“We’ve got the luxury at our stable of having a quarter-acre paddock per horse, so she could go and stand under a willow tree and have mates all around her,” he said. “They stay that much more supple and they tend to eat up when they’re outside, and the recovery is fantastic.
“She’s eaten up since the race and we’ve got a good window of four weeks before the Soliloquy Stakes, which is lovely, because at the 1400m, she needs to be on the fresh side.”
Ritchie had questioned whether the seven furlongs would be too sharp for his filly, and while he is still of that belief, the Soliloquy is a necessary step towards the Gr.1 Barneswood Farm 53rd New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November, where she holds equal-favouritism with Lollapalooza.
“I still think 1400 is nowhere near her optimum trip because she relaxes so well, but you’ve got to take your stepping stones through the fillies races before you can get over further,” he said.
“I think the key with keeping her fresh is keeping that speed in her legs, which helps her let down very quickly over the 1400m. As she gets further into her campaign, I’m sure 1400m will be too short.”
Those white and blue silks were to the fore again at Te Aroha on Sunday, with stablemate Tempest Moon breaking maiden status in the Waitoa Haulage Maiden (2200m).
The daughter of Turn Me Loose found her sweet spot at the 2200m, keeping up a strong gallop in the straight to hold off History Maker for amateur rider Abhay Seesa.
Ritchie had been waiting for a suitable trip for the five-year-old, who now he hopes to qualify for the A$304,000 Jericho Cup (4600m), a race the stable won in 2023 with Nassak Diamond.
“She’s a real dour staying mare, she reminds me a lot of Nassak Diamond who we won the Jericho Cup with in the same colours a couple of years ago,” he said.
“The distance races in the lower grades have never really been far enough for her, but now that she can get to 2200m-plus, and maybe even that 3000m race down in Christchurch, if she can win that it’s qualifying race for the Jericho Cup.
“The Jericho is a fantastic trip to be part of, I would advise anyone with a horse capable of going to go and enjoy the week. They lay it on thick and it’s a great tribute to the veterans and the light infantry through town.”
The southern qualifier will be run at Riccarton on October 25, with the winner earning an automatic place in the iconic Warrnambool feature on November 30.
Another late-blooming five-year-old, Giveusawink, completed their successful weekend when winning the Frac Club (1600m) at Te Aroha.
A full-brother to the stable’s Group One-winning filly Jennifer Eccles, Ritchie said Giveusawink has the ability to match his breeding but has struggled to put it together on raceday.
“That was his 10th start and he’s still doing the silly things, like deciding when he’s going to quicken up or not and making things difficult for Jonathan (Riddell, jockey),” Ritchie said. “If he actually relaxed and decided to be a racehorse, he would be well past maidens by now.
“We know he’s got so much ability and he’s a beautiful horse. He’s got some very resilient owners in him who have stuck with us, because the talent is there, but it’s also extremely frustrating.
“It’s not something we can train out of him, we just have to wait, so perhaps now we’ll back him up over the next couple of weeks so that he has regular racing and hopefully taking that edge off him.”
The stable will look to continue their momentum into the new week, with several runners headlined by Tuxedo taking on Saturday’s Gr.1 Howden Insurance Mile (1600m) at Te Rapa.
The Group Two winner stuck on bravely to finish a close-up seventh in the Gr.1 Proisir Plate (1400m) at Ellerslie earlier this month, but Ritchie is under no illusions about the challenge he now faces against stiff weight-for-age competition over a mile.
“You see horses like El Vencedor, Legarto and the two Te Akau mares galloping between races at Ellerslie, they are hardened, strong weight-for-age horses that have been there,” he said.
“We are dealing with a four-year-old, that I have no doubt at five or six with some more maturity to him will catch up to that level, as many of those did as well. I think he’s going to be a good weight-for-age stayer in the future, but that may be six or 12 months away.
“Which is why, after the weekend, we will assess the race and perhaps look at the Karaka Million four-year-old race ($1 million Aotearoa Classic) over a mile because we’ll be back in our own age group. I think that could be the right race for him this season.
“In saying that, he’s working with us, he’s eating well, but he just lacks that touch of strength that you need sometimes to win at weight-for-age level. We’re sure he’s going to run well or we wouldn’t be running him, but we need to know exactly where we sit on Saturday.
“A little bit of rain in the forecast won’t hurt him either.”
The son of Tivaci is currently a $12 hope for the second leg of the triple crown, with Legarto leading the market at $3.80.