Tajana primed to take on the boys at Riccarton

[Wandering Eyes]

Shaune Ritchie hopes his decision to bypass the fillies’ feature at Riccarton with Tajana will pay off on Saturday when she takes on the boys in the Gr.1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).

The daughter of Darci Brahma has been one of the best in her age group this spring, winning the Gr.3 Northland Breeders’ Stakes (1200m) and Gr.3 Sunline Vase (1400m) before finishing third in the Gr.2 Soliloquy Stakes (1400m) to Well Written.

While the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) had been on Ritchie’s radar for Tajana, he and training partner Colm Murray opted to avoid running against Well Written last Saturday and that was justified when she bolted in over the mile.

“I think the decision to run her against the colts was justified by the emphatic way that Well Written buried them in the 1000 Guineas,” Ritchie said. “I very much doubt we would’ve been able to beat her especially from the draw she had in the race.

“We compare ourselves with Lollapalooza who ran a good second, so I think we’ve made the right call to take on the colts.

“In saying that, we’re walking into the unknown with the colts.”

To be ridden on this occasion by Craig Grylls, Tajana will have side winkers on for the first time when she jumps from barrier three.

“We’re adding side winkers to sharpen up that turn of foot that she’s got, it would be nice if she could race a little bit handier, but the Riccarton straight allows you to be able to relax back in the field,” Ritchie said.

“There are a lot of options for Craig Grylls to take, he had a good feel of her at Ellerslie on Melbourne Cup Day in an exhibition gallop and he was thoroughly impressed with her. George (Rooke) has elected to ride the colt (Affirmative Action) which we respect, but I don’t think we’ve lost anything in getting a genuine Group One jockey in Craig Grylls on.

“She is in superb order, I doubt we could’ve presented her in better condition for what is her grand final and she’s going to take all sorts of beating on Saturday. I believe you’ll see the best presented order of Tajana on Saturday, she’s as well as we can get her and I think you’ll find a peak performance come out.

“She’s done all her fast work at home and she’ll just have a quiet canter at Riccarton on Friday morning. She’ll be ready to rock and roll on Saturday.”

Ritchie’s attention will also be on Tauranga on Saturday, where multiple Group winner Nereus resumes in the Happy Hire Cup (1400m).

“He’s carrying a lot more condition than he has at any point in time, he’s never been an overly big or gross horse, he’s always been relatively athletic,” Ritchie said. “He has run cheeky races fresh, he’s run third in an Open 1400m much to our surprise last preparation so with a stronger version of himself, he can go a cheeky sort of race here.

“We’re getting three kilos off with Sam McNab as well because the 60 kilos is an impost.

“He’s been a great flagbearer for the stable and his best trips are around that 2000 to 2400m mark, so his main targets will be some of those summer cups.”

Ritchie is hoping to see an improved effort second-up from Alaskan in the Devan Plastics 1600 after the mare disappointed in her resuming run, having finished sixth in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) last term.

“She’s the sort of horse that we thought could be a New Zealand Cup (Gr.3, 3200m) hope this time last year, the wet tracks have hindered her program as they have done for a lot of them this spring but having said that, her trials and first up run were sub-standard at best,” he said.

“We just backed off her a bit and took our time and she seems to be working on the training tracks with a lot more willingness, so she’ll be an interesting runner. She certainly hasn’t missed any work, but she appears to have turned the corner, she certainly needs to improve on that first up run as we are looking for more from her.

“If she does return to that late three-year-old form we expect her to get through the grades over ground, but we need to see a vast improvement from that run which was some time ago.”

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