Veteran galloper Taurus wins
Evergreen galloper Taurus enjoyed the improving track conditions at Pukekura to win the ITM PSP Open Handicap on Saturday.
In the hands of Jonathan Riddell, the 9-year-old son of No Excuse Needed got up late to nab Galaxy Miss and claim his 11th win from 67 starts for Wanganui trainers Evan and JJ Rayner.
Evan Rayner felt before the race that Taurus had come back in excellent order from Christchurch where he could only finish eighth in the Winter Cup before finishing third in the open handicap on the last day of the carnival.
That confidence proved on the mark off the back of a good ride by Riddell who handled Taurus ideally under his 59kg. ‘‘I knew he was well when we went to saddle him up and he was trying to bite me,’’ Rayner said.
‘‘It just worried me coming back from 1600 and they went quick today but it was good. The improving track certainly helped us because he doesn’t like it if it’s real sticky.’’
Rayner said Taurus was always a special horse for him after he bought him as a weanling.
‘‘He’s just won money every year for us. He’s been a great little horse for the stable.’’
The Group III Boehringer Ingelheim Metric Mile at Awapuni will be next on the agenda for the Marilyn Paewai-trained Rosewood after the 4-year-old daughter of Redwood stepped up to win the rating 75 1400m race.
Paewai had told jockey Alfred Chan to settle near the pace but Rosewood was reasonably slow out of the gates and was second-to-last coming off the back of the track.
Chan set her a wide task and she responded, taking the lead midway up the straight before powering away from her rivals to enjoy a decent winning margin at the post.
The winner of four of her 16 starts, Rosewood hinted a decent run was close at her last start at Waikato before she wilted late to finish fourth.
‘‘It was the best run she’s had because she usually only does it by a head or a nose,’’ Paewai said of Saturday’s win.
‘‘I thought we needed to have her handy because she is lazy but she caught them well today. I also always thought she needed to be handy because she didn’t have a sprint but on that ground she was far too good for them.’’ All of Rosewood’s wins have come on her home track.
Cambridge trainer Shane Crawford could not make it backto-back wins from the opening two races of the day when favourite Manhattan Flame lost his unbeaten record in the special conditions maiden over 1400m.
Unbeaten in his first three starts, Manhattan Flame had to sustain a wide run from the 800m and wilted in the straight as the Karen McQuade-trained Shellez Ace held on to beat the Murray Baker trained Crafty Jess by a nose.
Shellez Ace, a 4-year-old daughter of Swiss Ace, was an easy winner at Rotorua two starts back and was only just beaten at the same venue in late July.