Melbourne racing for Dr Velocious
Dr Velocious has left the Riverton stable of Kelvin and Aimee Tyler to race in Melbourne.
The Tylers won three races with Dr Velocious this season, including the $30,000 Winter Classic in Christchurch. The gelding’s Pukekohe owner, Terry Lines, has arranged for former Kiwi Rachael Frost to train the stayer at Mornington.
‘‘He flies out of Auckland on the fifth [of May],’’ Kelvin said.
The horseman, his daughter and their staff will be busy tomorrow with 15 stable runners racing on their home track at Riverton.
It’s the second-to-last thoroughbred race meeting in Southland for the season. The race day was to have featured the Great Western Steeplechase and Hurdles, but both races were deleted because of insufficient jumpers.
Kelvin Tyler thought King Of The Castle (race six) would be his best chance tomorrow. King Of The Castle finished second at Riverton on April 3 in his only start. He also expected Flying Sardine and Rosie Glow to race well.
With winter approaching some horses in the team have been turned out, including wellperformed gallopers Kilowatt, Lightning Jack, and Classic Diva.
The Tyler’s apprentice jockey, Savish Khetoo, is not riding because of a broken finger. Khetoo, who won the Riverton Cup last month, on the Tylertrained Our Boy Ritchie, is not sure when he will resume raceriding.
President Mike McCurdy said the Riverton Racing Club’s race day in January had potential to grow into a highly successful event. The club usually raced in the autumn, but it was allocated a new date in January this season. A big crowd attended and turnovers were high.
‘‘The day proved to be an enormous success,’’ McCurdy said.
‘‘The crowd we had for Easter Saturday was one of the biggest we’ve had for a long time.’’
Many improvements have been made to the Riverton racecourse in the past two years and the next project is to renovate the interior of the members’ grandstand.
Riverton tips
Race 1: Tapdog
Race 2: Denali
Race 8: So Much Mour