Home mile test for Checkmate

[Wandering Eyes]

Group Two performer Checkmate (NZ) (Mongolian Khan) will head to his home track of Matamata this weekend for a mile test before trainers Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott look to step him up over more ground.

The Okaharau Station-bred and raced gelding returned to form when third in the Gr.2 Rich Hill Mile (1600m) at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day before running fifth in the Gr.3 Aotearoa Classic (1600m), and his trainers were intending on testing him over 2000m in the Listed Kaimai Stakes at Matamata a fortnight ago, but those plans were curtailed by wet weather.

His conditioners have opted to keep him to a mile on Saturday in the Colchester Engineering 1600, but they are still keen to test him over 2000m at his next start if he performs up to expectations this weekend.

“We were going to run him over 2000m in the Kaimai Stakes, but when the track came up like it did we thought it wasn’t going to give the horse a fair crack,” O’Sullivan said.

“We tried him over 2000m once before in the Rosehill Guineas (Gr.1, 2000m), but it was at the end of his prep and we didn’t really get a line. We will probably look to step him up to 2000m after this race, but let’s see what he does.”

O’Sullivan has been pleased with Checkmate’s work in the lead-up to Saturday and he is expecting a bold showing from his gelding.

“He should be very competitive, we will be disappointed if he is not hard to beat,” O’Sullivan said. “He is going to get a nice track, he has worked well, he looks good and he should run well.

“He was a bit unlucky last time, the jockey (Damian Lane) felt like he was going to run a lot closer than what he did if he hadn’t had copped a bit of a buffeting or been held up just after straightening.

“The horse is going well and in 12 months’ time he is going to be a real racehorse.”

Wexford Stables are set to be represented by nine other runners on their home track on Saturday, including Tristar (NZ) (Exceedance) and Hankee Alpha (NZ) (Proisir) in the Ancroft Developments 1200.

Four-win mare Tristar heads into the race off the back of three consecutive placings, while Hankee Alpha has placed in two of her three starts this preparation, and O’Sullivan is expecting both mares to feature on Saturday.

“Both are going well and both will be very competitive,” he said.

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