Talented mare back to best range at Matamata

[Wandering Eyes]

Cliff Goss is looking forward to stepping his talented mare Casino Princess (NZ) (Casino Prince) back up in distance at Matamata on Wednesday, while he will also unveil another promising type earlier on the card.

A dominant winner of the Listed Tauranga Classic (1400m) in June, Casino Princess has established an enviable record of five victories from 12 attempts in her light racing career.

Goss, who prepares the daughter of Casino Prince at Tauranga, opted to freshen her after the stakes success in preparation for an Open 1200m contest a month later, but she found the distance a touch sharp, finishing fourth behind Martell (NZ) (El Roca).

“The 1200 was just a bit too short for her, but I didn’t have many other options so I thought maybe with a freshen-up, she might get the 1200,” Goss said.

“As it turned out, it was just too short, but since then she’s really gone ahead and she’s spot on for Wednesday.”

Casino Princess will line-up among the favoured runners in the Robert Bruce Clothier Memorial (1600m), with young apprentice Gareth Lahoud decreasing her impost to just 53.5kg.

Beyond Wednesday’s race, Goss is unsure where he will turn to next for the mare as she continues a rapid rise through the ratings.

“There’s not a huge amount for her coming up because she’s getting up in the weights in open handicaps, and if she was to win on Wednesday, she’d be carrying 60kg next time,” he said.

“We would have to go for a weight-for-age type of race and there aren’t too many of those for her.”

Goss and long-time owner Darryl Heaphy own Casino Princess, and the pair also combined to purchase Happy Venture (NZ) at the 2023 Ready To Run Sales, with the son of El Roca set to debut in the Pam Gerard – Ballymore Racing 1200.

Happy Venture’s early education was undertaken by Matamata conditioners Peter and Jessica Brosnan, and after pleasing with a fourth-placed trial in April, he returned to the care of Goss and has made a strong impression on his trainer.

“He’s a pretty good horse this one, I’d be expecting him to be in the first three,” Goss said.

“He’s had a trial and went very well as a two-year-old, Peter Brosnan broke him in and took him to the trials. He was wide all the way and finished off well for fourth.

“He may just need this race to learn a bit about it, but apart from that, he’s a nice horse.”

Bred by Westbury Stud owner Gerry Harvey, Happy Venture is the eighth foal out of Margravine (Red Ransom), who has produced six individual winners from seven horses to race.

“We bought him at the Ready-To-Run for $60,000, I liked his movement, and his mother won a two-year-old race so there might be a bit of early speed there,” Goss said.

“Looking at him now, I think he’ll be more of a miler as he’s already 16.1 hands, which we’ll get to later on.” 

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