Ribkraka delivers winning Wexford double

[Wandering Eyes]

Promising three-year-old Ribkraka (NZ) (Ribchester) thrived on a change of venue to deliver a front-running victory for Wexford Stables trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott at New Plymouth on Saturday.

Entered for both the AB Electrical 3YO (1400m) at New Plymouth as well as a similar three-year-old contest a Te Rapa, O’Sullivan and Scott rolled the dice and sent the son of Ribchester down country and it paid off handsomely as Khavish Chowdhoory had him rolling from barrier rise and looking the winner a long way out.

Chowdhoory applied the pressure rounding the home bend and Ribkraka shot five lengths clear in the twinkling of an eye before easing down slightly to score by three lengths over gallant local Meloni (NZ) (Ghibellines), who chased diligently throughout.

O’Sullivan was at Te Rapa with Scott but took time out to watch the race on television and got the perfect result.

“We had him in at Te Rapa which always looked like it was going to come up as a pretty decent surface (Soft6),” O’Sullivan said.

“We know this guy can handle it wet so we rolled the dice and sent him down the Island where the track looked like it would be a little more testing.

“Khavish did a good job as he got him away nicely from a low barrier and dictated the speed to a nicety. The track looked like it was playing in favour of those up front on the speed and that was how it panned out.

“He is a promising horse and with that ability on wetter tracks should be well served whatever we do next with him.”

The victory was the second on the day for O’Sullivan and Scott who also took out the open mile event at Te Rapa with Uderzo.

Bred by John Alexander, who shares in his ownership with a large group of Wexford clients, Ribkraka is out of the lightly raced mare Tickle Me (NZ), a daughter of supreme South Island sprinter Ticklish (NZ) who won eight races including the Listed Timaru Stakes (1200m) and Listed Pegasus Stakes (1000m)

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