Riccarton test for Horowhenua raider

[Wandering Eyes]

Faraglioni during an exhibition gallop at Otaki last week. Photo: Peter Rubery (Race Images Palmerston North)

Josh Shaw admits he is heading a long way this week for just the one run with his aptly named mare Predecessor, but he is hoping the trip pays dividends in the long run.

The Horowhenua horseman has trekked down to Christchurch this week with his four-year-old mare, who will be vying to breakthrough for her maiden victory in the Haase Marshall Drainage Premier (2000m) at Riccarton on Wednesday.

“The trip away will just bring her on,” Shaw said.

“She will be one and done probably. I know it is a long way to go for one race, but it will be the making of her. If we put her aside for three weeks after the trip to just let her get over it, then we have got some nice racing over the backend of Christmas.”

Predecessor heads into Wednesday off the back of a career best runner-up performance over 2100m at Otaki earlier this month and Shaw is hoping the daughter of Eminent can go one better this week.

“She jumped from barrier 12 the other day at Otaki, got across and found one off, and it was a very good run,” Shaw said.

Draws haven’t been in their favour throughout Predecessor’s five-start career, and that trend has continued this week where she has drawn the outside gate in the now 14-horse field.

“I don’t know what I have done in a past life,” Shaw quipped.

“She drew one in her first start and every other start it has been the outside barrier or second from outside.”

Shaw is looking forward to testing his mare over 2000m once more this week on a better track, which was rated a Soft 7 on Tuesday.

“Distance is going to be her friend,” Shaw said.

“The whole time she has been in my stable that is what we have been aiming towards. She is taking a little bit of time to mature to get to the races.”

Shaw purchased Predecessor as a weanling from Curraghmore for $1,200 off gavelhouse.com, and he said buying her was one of the best decisions he has made, as it directly resulted in him acquiring Group 1 performer Faraglioni.

“There is a bit of a play in the name, she preceded Faraglioni,” Shaw said.

“If it wasn’t for me buying her off gavelhouse, we probably wouldn’t have Faraglioni. That is why we named her the way we did.

“I bought her (Predecessor) as a weanling. I had her half-sister, Amazing Team, and I thought to myself she would have been a nice horse had we had her a bit earlier.

“I saw her (Predecessor) on gavelhouse and bought her and it was on the off chance that Gordy (Gordon Cunningham, Curraghmore principal) rang us up and said he had another lovely filly by El Roca that is a two-year-old who hadn’t done anything, but she needed to, and that ended up being Faraglioni. He sent me the pedigree and I said to chuck her on the float as well.”

That decision has proven to be a masterstroke, with Faraglioni having gone on to win five and place in 10 of her 25 starts and accrued more than $400,000 in prizemoney.

She has been a perennial bridesmaid, finishing runner-up in the Group 1 TAB Classic (1600m), Group 2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m), Group 2 Westbury Classic (1400m), and Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m).

The six-year-old mare put in an uncharacteristically poor performance last start when last in the Group 1 Arrowfield Stud Plate (1600m), but Shaw said subsequent blood work revealed she had picked up a virus.

“It (Arrowfield) was very disappointing on face value, but I am picking she picked up a little bug somewhere along the line because when she got home she scoured quite badly,” he said.

“We got her bloods done after that and everything was out of whack. We put her aside for 10 days and she has been on the up and up since she has been back in work.

“We’ll just turn the page on that last run. If you didn’t turn the page, you wouldn’t be reading the book. That’s all we can do.”

Faraglioni pleased in her exhibition gallop at Otaki last week and 1000m jump-out at Levin on Tuesday, and is set to return to Pukekohe next Saturday in a bid to go one better in the Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes.

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