Natuzzi back in form
IF your surname wasn’t Colgan, Williams or Richards you were playing second fiddle at Ellerslie yesterday.
Jockey Vinnie Colgan took out both Group features and the training partnership of former South Island trio Peter and Dawn Williams plus Paul Richards trained half of the winners on the eightrace card.
But New Zealand Derby hope Romancer did his best to steal their thunder with an eyecatching win in the the Listed Mufhasa Stakes.
The highlight for the WilliamsRichards training partnership was obviously the win of the eight-year-old Natuzzi in the Group III Concorde Handicap (1200m).
Natuzzi’s 11th win at start 40 was his first win since December 12 2015 and keeps him on track for Group I assignments in the Railway and the Telegraph but Peter Williams was keeping his options open after Saturday’s win.
‘‘He’s got a nomination for the Railway but we’ll go home and see how the old fella pulls up. He’ll tell us what he wants to do,’’ Williams told Trackside TV.
Williams said the inclusion of topweight Ryan Mark (60kg) in the race was a key factor as it meant Natuzzi got into the race at 58kg.
Natuzzi clocked 1:09.90 for the 1200m on the good 3 track to beat Trish Dunell Irish Moon by a neck with a further head back to Fire Jet in third.
The weight appeared to take its toll on Ryan Mark who finished last but he was only three and a half lengths behind Natuzzi.
Finally getting some luck with the barrier draws was also a major asset.
Now based at Byerley Park, the Williams-Richards trio brought up earlier wins with Marciano, Night’s Watch and Symphonic.
All three wins came with Mark Du Plessis in the saddle.
Meanwhile, Colgan’s earlier feature win aboard Romancer has stamped the son of Redwood as a genuine Derby contender.
Trained by the Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs partnership at Ruakaka, Romancer picked up his second win at just his third start when he won the Mufhasa Stakes for the three-year-olds.
Colgan put Romancer to sleep in the running and he relaxed beautifully but when Colgan asked for an effort, the talented three-year-old cantered up to the field with ease and went on to win by half a length over Royal Mojito with a further one and a half lengths back to I Am Gracie in third.
‘‘He was impressive and I didn’t really expect that,’’ Logan said.
‘‘Bring on March.’’ the Derby in