Trentham fillies’ features looming for Eye Candy

[Wandering Eyes]

There was plenty of merit in Eye Candy’s runner-up effort behind Hinekaha in the Listed Oaks Prelude (1800m) at New Plymouth on Saturday, and trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray now have their sights set on a couple of Trentham fillies features.

“It was very brave,” Ritchie said of Eye Candy’s weekend run. “It was a superb ride by Lily Sutherland, she got herself in front and then slowed them down and did her very best to wait as long as possible before taking off, and nearly got away with it.

“The winner was too good. If you run the race 100 times, she is going to beat her every time. The winner might be a very classy filly, so to run second to her is no disrespect.”

Ritchie was pleased to see the daughter of Darci Brahma back in form after a luckless run in the Listed Gingernuts Salver (2100m) at Ellerslie last month, where she tailed the nine-horse field home.

“In the Gingernuts she took a trail and George (Rooke, jockey) elected for the inside on that occasion, and it didn’t pan out. She got squeezed a little bit and I think her run that day was a little inconclusive.

“I am not suggesting that she would have won the race by any means, but the (6.7) lengths to the winner was not fair to her talent.

“She does seem to run her best races when she has led. She has won at Ruakaka from leading and it was another good performance at New Plymouth.”

Eye Candy is now set to head to Trentham next month to have her first look at Trentham in the Gr.2 Little Avondale Lowland Stakes (2100m) before returning to the Upper Hutt track a fortnight later to tackle the $1 million Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m).

“She has had some racing, so we won’t want to tax her,” Ritchie said. “She will probably go straight to the Lowland and have a look at Trentham. The timing of those looks nice for her. We will give her a good look at Trentham and that will tell us if we are on the right track for the Oaks or not.”

Ritchie was also pleased with the debut runner-up performance of Tajana behind gun two-year-old Return To Conquer in the Gr.3 Colin Jillings 2YO Classic (1200m) at Ellerslie on Saturday.

“We are delighted with her,” Ritchie said of The Oaks Stud-bred and raced filly.

“Her trial was superb before it. She came from last and rolled into the middle of the track at Matamata and got home really well.”

Ritchie said the daughter of Darci Brahma still has plenty of developing to do and believes she is a more natural three-year-old, and won’t be tested too much as a juvenile.

“It was notable in the birdcage that she was clearly the most relaxed and probably looked the least like a two-year-old,” he said. “She is our first two-year-old runner of the season. There were some beautiful, strong animals there and she just looks like she is going to be a better spring three-year-old.

“We won’t give her too busy of a campaign this time around, we will probably look for a maiden two-year-old somewhere, and if she performs in that we might roll the dice at a race like the Sires’ Produce Stakes (Gr.1, 1400m) because she appears like she is looking for 1400m already.

“But she certainly won’t have any more than two races. We see her as a potential 1000 Guineas (Gr.1, 1600m) filly.”

Ritchie is excited about the prospects of another The Oaks Stud filly in Alaskan, who will continue her path towards the New Zealand Oaks in Saturday’s Gr.2 David and Karyn Fenton Ellis Fillies Classic (2000m) at Te Rapa.

“She is probably our best Oaks chance at the moment,” Ritchie said. “I thought it was an impressive win last start at Pukekohe. It looks like a mile-and-a-half will suit, so she will go around in the Fillies Classic, and that will give us a guide as to where we sit in the scheme of things for an Oaks perspective.”

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