Ascot Park trainer Sabin Kirkland is a big fan of Riccarton’s synthetic track, and so is his stakes winner Buoyant (NZ) (Dalghar), who will be out to keep his unblemished record intact on the surface on Thursday.
The six-year-old son of Dalghar was victorious on the track three years ago before returning to the surface earlier this month where extended his unbeaten streak to two after taking out his 1200m event.
The Southland galloper has remained in Canterbury and will have his third crack on the polytrack in Thursday’s Happy Birthday Max Skelton Open Handicap (1200m).
“I am very happy with him, he has come through that run well,” Kirkland said. “One thing about the synthetic, it doesn’t empty the tank too much as opposed to running on some of these heavy winter tracks, which takes a bit of getting over.
“He stayed up there, worked on it (synthetic) the other day and he loved it.”
“He has drawn three and Spartan has drawn eight, and he will be hunting for the front, so if we can just sit up behind Spartan that would be good. I am happy with the way he is.”
Buoyant will return south after Thursday’s run, but he is set to return to Christchurch early next season to chase the $100,000 on offer in the Polytrack Championship (1200m) on August 6.
“He will come home and we will look at Dunedin on June 1 and the big carrot on the second day of the national meeting (at Riccarton), the $100,000 on the synthetic,” Kirkland said.
Meanwhile, Kirkland has been pleased with the progress of stablemate Tomasina (NZ) (Darci Brahma), who has finished runner-up in her two starts this time in, while homebred Neptune will continue his racing career in Hong Kong following his recent sale.
“Tomasina has come back from a break and had two very nice seconds, we are very happy with her. We have got a full-brother to her called Mr Darcy and I think he is going to be a lovely horse,” he said.
“Neptune (NZ) (Prince Of Brooklyn) has passed all of his vetting and he is away to Hong Kong to live. We have put quite a few into Hong Kong, we have got some good contacts up there, and we are going up for the Internationals (races in December) and meet and greet all the guys we work with.”