Chajaba Targets Opunake Cup

[Wandering Eyes]

Taranaki gelding Chajaba (NZ) (Keano) has a good association with the Listed Opunake Cup (1400m), and owner-trainer Tina Egan would dearly love to take out this year’s edition with her homebred.

The eight-year-old son of Keano was runner-up in the New Plymouth feature two years ago behind winter supremo Justaskme (NZ) (No Excuse Needed_, while he finished fifth in last year’s running.

“The Opunake Cup is definitely his main aim, he has had a second and a fifth in it, and it would be great to win it,” Egan said.

He will kick-off his preparation towards his ultimate target in two months when he heads to New Plymouth on Saturday to tackle the Seaton Park 1400.

Egan is happy enough with her charge in the lead-up to his first-up assignment, but she does expect him to take plenty of improvement out of the run.

“He has had a couple of jump-outs and he is a bit more forward than last year,” Egan said. “He pulled a muscle last year, so we were on the backfoot a little bit.

“He usually improves with his first race and goes well second-up, so we are not expecting big things, plus it is going to be a better track, but he loves New Plymouth.”

The Opunake Cup is a ballot exempt race for the Gr.3 Winter Cup (1600m) at Riccarton in August, and while Chajaba has yet to be tested over a mile, Egan hasn’t ruled out a crack at the southern feature if her were to win his main target.

“I would like to try him over a mile,” she said. “We thought about the Winter Cup a couple of years ago, but he hadn’t been tried over a mile. I would give him a race somewhere over a mile, somewhere like Te Rapa would be ideal, before going down there if he were to win the Opunake Cup.”

Egan has bred from the family for several generations, and Chajaba is particularly sentimental for the Stratford horsewomen given he is named after her three children – Chase, Jade, and Bailey.

The chestnut gelding has been a standout for the family, winning seven and placing in six of his 27 career starts to date, and earned nearly $160,000 in prizemoney.

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