Tauranga finale for talented Wexford trio

[Wandering Eyes]

Talented mare Grande Gallo (NZ) (Belardo) will return to her favourite track in pursuit of black-type in Saturday’s Listed Team Wealleans Tauranga Classic (1400m), with two of her key rivals coming from the same stable.

The daughter of Belardo has won three out of four appearances at the Tauranga course, and after her success in the Owens Plate (1200m) in March, trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott pencilled in the fillies and mares feature.

“This race has been on her radar for a long time, it was her finale that we set in the hope of getting some black-type,” O’Sullivan said.

“The biggest question mark with her is the track conditions, just whether she’s going to handle it to these sort of extremes. She does handle give in the ground, but this just may be a kettle of fish on the weekend.”

An $85,000 purchase by Wexford at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sales in 2022, Grande Gallo has more than exceeded that price in earnings, surpassing the $200,000 mark with a scorching run into second behind Midnight Scandal at Ellerslie earlier this month.

It may have been a surprise in the market, but certainly not for her trainers, who anticipate the best is yet to come for the mare.

“We expected that from her,” O’Sullivan said.

“She’s done exceptionally well, she’s won five races now and has raced in pretty good company. We feel that next season, when she’s a year older and a bit stronger, she’ll continue to get better.”

Joining Grande Gallo in Saturday’s contest is Lux Libertas, a mare with a similarly sharp record, and stakes placings in the Gr.2 Auckland Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) and more recently, the Gr.3 Rotorua ITM Stakes (1400m).

Adept in heavy track conditions, O’Sullivan hopes to see a similar showing from the Almanzor four-year-old before she heads to the paddock.

“She’s ultra-consistent and racing well,” he said. “This will be her last start before she goes for a bit of a rest, but she’s certainly been a model of consistency.”

The sole filly of the field will also represent Wexford, with a very in-form Tristar earning her place after winning two on the bounce this campaign.

“It depended on her last performance, whether she was in the fillies and mares, or in the three-year-old race over 1200 on Saturday,” O’Sullivan said.

“But she put up a good enough performance there and she deserves to race for black-type.”

The stable will have another eight runners across the meeting, including three-year-olds Macallan and Ribkraka, both winners at their most recent starts.

“Macallan has shown that he can handle very testing conditions, as he did last time at Tauranga,” O’Sullivan said. “Any horse that can handle the track in those kinds of conditions has got to be considered a good chance.

“Although, this is quite a big step up in quality of horses, in comparison to what he met last time.

“Rikraka is great, he’s done really well and has shown a lot of ticker in his last three runs.

“He’s a good, tough horse that gets through bad ground and he’ll continue to improve.”

The pair will go head-to-head in the Aongatete Avo-Ject 3YO (1200m), with Bruno Queiroz and Triston Moodley taking the respective rides.

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