Cortado in Ryder test for Colgan and Williams stable
Richly-bred filly Cortado has shown Byerley Park training partners Peter and Dawn Williams and Paul Richards that she deserves her black-type opportunity.
The Sir Peter Vela-owned blueblood tackles the Listed Ryder Stakes at Otaki on Saturday in an attempt to boost her bankroll and future breeding value.
‘‘It’s a great chance for blacktype and she’s shown us enough to warrant her place in the field,’’ Peter Williams said.
The Sepoy filly out of Macchiato meets a quality field in the $50,000 feature over 1200m.
It is the final chance for 2-yearold black-type as the current season draws to a close.
Cortado ($7.50) is on the fifth line of betting behind Manhattan Street ($2.90), Mongolian Wolf ($3.80), Sophia Magia ($4.80) and Impulsive Habit ($6.50).
Williams is under no illusions about the task Cortado and jockey Vinnie Colgan face.
‘‘This will definitely be a test for her,’’ he said.
‘‘I honestly don’t know how she will handle such a heavy track.’’
Her win and two thirds in a three-race career have all been achieved on slow surfaces.
‘‘All her work here [at Byerley Park] is on the sand so she hasn’t been tried on a heavy track at all,’’ Williams said.
Colgan rode the filly on debut for third after Mark Du Plessis had won a trial on her before his departure to ride in Japan.
Stable apprentice Doni Prastiyou, who was formerly based at Riccarton, then took over but connections have decided to go with experience on Saturday.
‘‘Vinnie was impressed when he rode her and was always engaged for this race,’’ Williams said.
Prastiyou has made a good impression in the north since his move from Christchurch earlier in the winter.
‘‘He’s riding well and he will stay on up here in the new season,’’ Williams said.
The stable will also welcome the return of Du Plessis from Japan.
Du Plessis resumes at Te Rapa’s Foxbridge Plare meeting on August 13.
With spring approaching several promising horses have returned to the Byerley Park barn.
‘‘We have lost a couple of our headline horses like Shuka and Vavasour [retired] but have some nice young horses coming through,’’ Williams said.
‘‘Veearma [a Darci Brahma filly] and Madam Woo [a Fastnet Rock filly] are two we really like and we will get them ready for 3-year-old races.
‘‘A horse that has come back looking well is Palace Rock.
‘‘She has really matured into a nice horse and her breed does improve with time – she should be in for a good campaign.’’
The rising 5-year-old Fastnet Rock mare has won two races and finished close-up in a number of other races against strong opposition.
‘‘Triaction has returned looking well and so has Marciano,’’ Williams said.
Elusive City mare Triaction has won four from 10 and like Faltaat gelding Marciano, also a four-race winner, is rising five.
Natuzzi ‘‘a great old campaigner’’ is on the comeback trail.
The rising 8-year-old has won 10 races and $460,000-plus for connections.
‘‘He’s probably not a Group I horse now but we are looking at the Stewards with him.
‘‘He’s dogged with big weights in open handicaps so it will be hard for him.’’ The Magic Man and Maybe Miami might sound like a trashy American comedy but the combination will be no joke on Saturday.
Riccarton trainers Kevin and Pam Hughes are more pleased than anyone to see the return of Chris Johnson, aka the Magic Man, who will ride Maybe Miami at Ashburton.
Johnson has not been sighted on race day since May 21 due to returning a positive cannabis test at the Rangiora trials on May 24.
He pleaded guilty at a hearing on June 3 and was later suspended until the close of racing on July 26.
Maybe Miami will have Johnson on his back in an open handicap over 1400m at Ashburton and in the Group III Winter Cup on August 6.
‘‘We’re very fortunate to have him back because otherwise we were sitting here without a rider for the Winter Cup,’’ Kevin Hughes said.
Sam Wynne and Terry Moseley, who have combined to ride Maybe Miami in his last three starts, were unavailable for the Winter Cup.
A winner of 2103 races, Johnson has been aboard Maybe Miami for all of his three victories.
‘‘It’s great to have him back because he knows the horse so well,’’ Hughes said.
A $1.80 favourite with bookmakers, Maybe Miami will carry 59kg on a dead 6 track in a field of just six runners.
He has previously never carried more than 57.5kg but Hughes does not see it as a factor.
‘‘I did think about it but I don’t think that it will worry him, he’s a strong horse,’’ Hughes said.
The four-year-old son of Iffraaj was second, half a length behind Signify on a slow 9 over 1400m in his last start, also at Ashburton, in the Winter Cup trial.
Maybe Miami is still yet to run over a mile but the Hughes’ are confident he will see it out after making up around a length and a half on Signify in the final 200m.
‘‘There’s no reason he won’t see it out, his family has a good record over a mile,’’ Hughes said.
On that occasion, Maybe Miami was hard up against the rail when the rest of the field were running home down the outside fence.
‘‘He was along way apart from them and with the hood on he wouldn’t have know where they were so he did it all on his own really, I was pretty impressed with the run,’’ Hughes said.
Maybe Miami is also nominated for the Group I $200,000 Makfi Challenge Stakes at Hastings and Hughes said that trip is likely if he makes the field.
Another talented type, five win sprinter Super Trouper is back at the Hughes’ Riccarton barn following four starts in the North Island with Paul Mirabelli.
The Darci Brahma mare is a chance to start in the $40,000 open sprint on the opening day of the Grand National Carnival.
Meanwhile top rider David Walsh, is heading to Mauritius.
Walsh could not be reached for comment on Friday, but it is understood he leaves next week.