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    • Exactly. Just like to see more sign of them doing that.
    • Looking forward to hearing what they have come up with to turn things positive for the future, without all the Entain  cash splash? What they are currently doing with Entain money is only a band aid that will come off!  Entain have got what they wanted and now it is up to racing to perform!
    • Slipper Island (No Nay Never) put together a picket fence form line down the Trentham chute last season and he’ll be aiming to pick up where he left off at the Upper Hutt venue on Saturday. In autumn, the No Nay Never gelding went from winning at Rating 65 grade to defeating Group One winner Pier (NZ) (Proisir) and subsequent Group One placegetter Tomodachi (NZ) (Tarzino) three runs later in the Listed City Of Napier Sprint (1200m). That performance made four straight successes down the dogleg, and while his trainer Tony Pike hadn’t intended to head back there first-up, bad weather in the north shifted those plans. “He’s come back in great order again this preparation and his trials have been good, he looks pretty forward,” Pike said. “Ideally we wanted to go to Te Rapa last week, but with the wet track there, that forced our hand to decide to go back to Trentham, a track he obviously loves. It looks like they’re going to miss most of the rain and it’ll be about a (Soft) 6 or 7, which will be a big help. “The better the track conditions, the better he’ll go, but with his form on this track, I think he’ll be hard to beat on Saturday.” Slipper Island shares favouritism for the CR Grace And Waterforce Handicap 1200 with his stablemate Witz End (NZ) (Savabeel), but the pair will likely head in different directions after resuming, with the Listed Stewards Stakes (1200m) during New Zealand Cup Week the goal for the former. “I think the Stewards will be ideal for him, he should still get in on a reasonably light weight and the straight racing really seems to suit him,” Pike said. “Riccarton has similar sort of track dimensions to Trentham, so that is the plan for the short term.” A Group Two performer as a three-year-old, Witz End mixed his form at times last season at four, and Pike is looking forward to seeing a stronger galloper this time in. “He was also entered for Ellerslie (on Saturday) but I thought the 1200m was a better fit first-up,” Pike said. “His preparation last year was a bit hit or miss at times, but he’s come back and trialled well and is looking like a more mature horse this time in. “He’ll be very competitive fresh-up, and with that extra season of racing under his belt, he’ll come back a stronger horse and hopefully be up to those good mile races this season.” The Cambridge horseman will also send a pair of promising three-year-olds on the journey south, with the proven Ashoka (NZ) (Hello Youmzain) and debutant Pure Lotus (Lean Mean Machine) going head-to-head in the Marsh Insurance Brokers and Treadwell Gordon 1200. A son of in-form sire Hello Youmzain, Ashoka was twice runner-up in his two juvenile starts to Boombox (NZ) (Spirit Of Boom), his former stablemate who has recently entered quarantine on his way to racing in Hong Kong. “Ashoka is probably a little bit better left-handed even though he ran well in both of his two-year-old races going right-handed,” Pike said. “He just tended to want to drift to the middle of the track and I think the straight 1200m at Trentham will really suit him. “He’s run second in a couple of quality two-year-old races and trialled really nicely, so you’d expect him to be really hard to beat down there on Saturday.” While the less experienced of the two, Pike isn’t counting out Pure Lotus as he steps out on raceday for the first time. “I didn’t really want to run the two of them together but we have a couple of three-year-olds in at Ellerslie as well, so we’re trying to split them up with the lack of maiden 1200m races at the moment,” Pike said. “He’s a beautiful type that has trialled well, he’ll probably have to go back from that draw but I think he’s a talented horse going forward. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him go close to winning, with improve to come from the trip away and raceday experience.” Pike will be well-represented at the other New Zealand meeting on Saturday at Ellerslie, including recent debut winner Is That All (Cable Bay) stepping up in the Trackside.co.nz 1300. “He’s been a slow maturing horse, obviously making his debut at four, but he looks a nice progressive type that was pretty impressive at Ruakaka,” Pike said. “He still has plenty to learn, he’s pretty new and green, so that would be my only concern heading into Saturday. “It’ll be his first time at Ellerslie, but he looks like a talented horse going forward.” Pike is expecting to see an improved effort from well-bred colt Storm Front (NZ) (Snitzel) in the NZB Ready To Run Trainers Series 3YO 1400, having finished in the second half of the field when resuming in the Listed Sir Colin Meads Trophy (1200m). “I was happy enough with his fresh-up run, we were dictated to by the barrier draw having to go all the way back in a slowly run race,” he said. “He made up good ground late off the back of one very soft barrier trial, so he’ll improve immensely off that. “He’s a really talented colt, unfortunately he had a cardiac arrythmia in his last start as a two-year-old, so it was a bit of a messy preparation and we were a bit held up by the weather to get him ready for that first-up run. “He’s drawn a better gate on Saturday, and with the application of blinkers, he’ll be able to put himself closer to the speed. I think you’ll see a marked improvement from him.” He will present a trio of well-performed open gallopers in the Eagle Technology 1400 in Churchillian (NZ) (Churchill), Cannon Hill (NZ) (Ardrossan) and Rudyard (NZ) (Charm Spirit), with the youngest of the three expected to feature prominently. “Cannon Hill and Churchillian ran in the 75 carrying big weights two weeks ago, so they’ll improve off that, I was happy with both of them,” Pike said. “Cannon Hill was very good as a close-up fifth, he drops to 54.5kg here and I think he’ll be very hard to beat. Churchillian was off the scene for a long period of time so her run had merit, she only peaked late and will drop to the minimum on Saturday, where I think she can be competitive with further improvement to come. “Rudyard has trialled well, I think he’s going a lot better than he did towards the end of his last preparation. He’ll probably benefit from the run, but he’s drawn to get a soft trip and he’ll improve quickly off this run.” View the full article
    • Knock Off (NZ) (Fabulous) has proven to be a horse of a lifetime for Wanganui trainer Gerard Cvitanovich, who will be vying to record his first stakes victory on Saturday when his charge contests the Gr.3 Hunterville Vet Club Metric Mile (1600m) at Trentham. The semi-retired dairy farmer has been training intermittently over the last 30 years, and has contested three previous stakes races, but Saturday presents as his best opportunity as he gets set to line-up the $6 equal favourite for the mile feature. The occasion will be a true family affair, with his son Nick having bred the son of Fabulous, while his three other children, brother and wife also share in the ownership of the horse. “I have got four kids and they are all involved, as is my brother, and my wife, Rachel,” he said. “They all like to have a bet, go to the races and have a look around, it’s good.” The lightly-tried gelding has won four and placed in three of his 11 starts to date and has been in a purple patch of form this preparation, winning three and placing in one of his four starts this time in. Cvitanovich has been over the moon with his gelding’s meteoric rise and he is looking forward to testing him at stakes level for the first time this weekend. “It is good to give him a go at it and we will just see what level he is at,” he said. “He is very well and he seems to be enjoying his work. It is a good time to have a go at something like that.” While Knock Off has recorded three of his four victories in the last few months, Cvitanovich said he has shown ability from the outset. “In his first start he was a pretty close third to Valley King of Kevin Myers’, who went on to win four (from five starts),” he said. “He was always a good horse to have around and work, and the results have been a bonus really.” Knock Off will jump from barrier four on Saturday and will be ridden by Leah Hemi. “We don’t want to be too far back, we want to be fairly handy to them, so I hope that’s alright there,” he said. Cvitanovich said the remainder of Knock Off’s preparation will be dictated by his performance this weekend, with next month’s Gr.3 Thompson Handicap (1600m) a possibility if he performed well. “There is another race at Wellington in a month’s time and that is how we have been spreading his races,” he said. “We will just wait and see how he is after this and how it all fits in, he might need a holiday.” View the full article
    • Ka Ya Rising’s (NZ) (Shamexpress) first-up rating has him right where he needs to be for the upcoming Everest, says form guru Daniel O’Sullivan. While his returning figure of 107 was a few points off his absolute best, it keeps him in a class of his own compared to the rest of the world’s sprinting ranks. Add to that the prospect of Ka Ying Rising improving from his first-up run – a very real possibility according to trainer David Hayes and jockey Zac Purton – and the numbers make it hard to see any of the local sprinters taking the necessary leap to challenge him by October. “Ka Ying Rising returned on Sunday with a 107 rating, a mark he has now produced four times across his last eight starts,” O’Sullivan said. “It sits about 1.5 lengths short of his peak 110, achieved twice earlier this year in the G1 Centenary Sprint Cup (January) and the G1 Chairman’s Sprint Prize (April), both over 1200m at Sha Tin. “While the 107 doesn’t indicate he’s gone to a new level, it confirms he remains in a class of his own among global sprinters. “With The Everest still five weeks away, it’s also reasonable to think he wasn’t fully wound up, which makes the prospect of another 110 performance on Everest day a realistic expectation.” O’Sullivan concurs with the widely held belief that if Ka Ying Rising is to go under in the Everest, it will be due to the travel, which was the undoing of champion Romantic Warrior (Acclamation) when he ran first-up in the  2023 Turnbull Stakes as a notable yard drifter. But on the current figures, he will need to regress some two to three lengths, or have some horrid luck in running, for the local hopes to cause a boilover. “The one unknown is travel. Ka Ying Rising has yet to race outside Hong Kong, and history shows that not every horse reproduces their best after a trip overseas,”O’Sullivan said. “That is the key angle for the local brigade to cling to, because the ratings gap is clear. At his best, Ka Ying Rising’s 110 figure puts him 2.5–3.5 lengths clear of Australia’s best sprinters, who sit in the 102.5–104 range on exposed form. “While some might improve to a new peak on the day, it would be a major shock to see any reach 110, and even a rating of 107+ would be a surprise. “Conditions, luck in running, or the uncertainties of travel could all play a role, which is what will still make the race compelling. As things stand, though, the gap between him and the locals is significant.” View the full article
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