Coast swoop starts winter for Kiwi aces

YOU could be forgiven for thinking the royal family had lobbed in Brisbane yesterday, such was the security around the Singapore Airlines Flight carrying 21 New Zealand winter carnival hopefuls.

New Zealand has a long history of plundering Queensland’s winter riches and they are sure to hold a strong hand this year, particularly heading to the three-year-old classics.

Trainer Shaune Ritchie had three carnival runners on the flight, including Oaks aspirant Chop Chop, who makes her Australian debut in the Gold Coast Bracelet tomorrow.

“She has improvement in her but I wouldn’t say she’s got six lengths up the sleeve,” Ritchie said.

“She’s here to earn black type and she’s very capable of winning this race.”

Chop Chop finished fourth in the New Zealand Oaks and Ritchie said the run was better than the 9.5 lengths margin because she was 30 lengths off the speed at one stage.

Earlier in her preparation, she ran ATC Oaks winner Rising Romance to a photo finish.

Military Move (Hollindale Stakes) will also represent the stable on the Coast in a race that will determine his winter campaign.

“It doesn’t look the strongest Hollindale they’ve ever run, so we decided to run but if he doesn’t measure up, there’s a host of handicap races we can come back to if need be,” Ritchie said.

The trainer arrived ahead of his team and admitted he was enjoying the warmer weather (ahead of a predicted cold change for the weekend).

“It was about three degrees back home when we worked them, so this is a bit like summer,” he said.

“Flying in only a couple of days out has been very successful for a lot of our trainers in the past and many form students will tell you the best run from a New Zealand horse in Australia is their first one.”

The flight yesterday also carried former Group 1 winner Rollout The Carpet, who makes her Australian debut in the Prime Minister’s Cup on the Gold Coast tomorrow.