Sophia and Lisa are the Ryder dangers
Sophia Magia saw a fair bit of the Otaki track at her last start.
Punters who stay loyal in Saturday’s Listed Ryder Stakes on the same course will be betting on the Per Incanto filly taking a less scenic route.
The Roydon Bergerson-trained 2-year-old takes on a talented lineup in the $50,000 black-type race but at $4.80 is value in the early markets.
She ran a game second to Ryder favourite Manhattan Street ($2.80) at her last start over 1200m, beaten a length after racing wide throughout.
‘‘Robbie [jockey Robbie Hannam currently serving a suspension] just got it wrong that day,’’ Bergerson said.
‘‘We thought the centre of the track was the place to be but she ended up just too wide.’’
The track that day was a Heavy11 which will be similar again on Saturday and the filly won on debut over 1000m at Trentham on a track with the same rating.
‘‘I’m hoping she handles the track - it will be pretty testing but she should be alright.’’
The final black-type race of the season for the 2-year-olds has drawn an even line-up of nine with solid support for northern visitors Mongolian Wolf ($3.80), Impulsive Habit ($6.50) and Cortado ($7.50).
The race has been dominated by northerners in recent years starting with Secret Spirit last year and preceded by Niki Piki Milo, Orbiter, Move Faster and Snow Excuse.
Manhattan Street, the winner of two form two for Awapuni trainer Lisa Latta and Sophia Magia also Awapuni-trained are strong chances to arrest the trend.
Lisa Allpress was impressed with Sophia Magia’s last effort and claims the Ryder mount in Hannam’s absence.
‘‘I was lucky to secure Lisa,’’ Bergerson said. ‘‘No-one is riding better than her.
‘‘Sophia Magia has been freshened since her last run and is probably better going into this than either of her previous races.
‘‘Her work suggests she has improved and she has done everything I could have possibly asked of her - she has eaten well, worked well and looks great.’’
Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Michelle Payne has completed her first week of riding trackwork at her home base at Ballarat.
Weathering the zero-degree mornings, Payne is riding for three local stables for the first time this week after her nasty fall at Mildura in May, which threatened to end her decorated riding career.
Payne on Wednesday rode trackwork for Darren Weir, the man she combined with to win last year’s Melbourne Cup as well as her older brother Andrew and fellow Ballarat trainer Matt Cumani.
‘‘I think she’s been back just over a week and she’s looking really strong and enjoying it,’’ Andrew Payne said on Wednesday.
Payne said his sister would lift her workrate when she returned from a trip to Darwin in a week’s time.
‘‘She felt a little stiff at first and that’s pretty understandable. She’s had a pretty torrid time, but she’s now enjoying it and looking really fit,’’ he said.
Payne has made a rapid recovery following delicate surgery to restitch her pancreas that split on impact from the Mildura fall.
‘‘She had difficult surgery but she’s over that and looking good. We haven’t really talked about making comebacks but what I want her to do is ride plenty of work so her fitness levels are so good and strong that she can then make a decision,’’ Payne said.
‘‘It was a nasty fall but she’s really got a strong work ethic but at the end of the day it will be her decision. I think it’s a matter of taking things one step at a time.’’
Michelle Payne shot to international prominence with her Melbourne Cup success and received plaudits from nearly every racing jurisdiction around the world.
Payne was to have ridden in races in Europe over the past two months but her fall left her hospitalised for more than a month.
Meanwhile, the fall in which Payne suffered a serious injury has been judged an accident.
Victorian stewards completed their inquiry on Wednesday and determined they could not attribute carelessness to any rider and declared the fall an accidental racing incident.
Payne has not revealed whether she will return to competitive riding but she is believed to have a contract with a women’s magazine and will elaborate on her plans in the next couple of weeks.
Payne has applied for a dual licence under a new rule which comes into effect in Victoria on August 1 allowing jockeys to train and ride their own horses.
Rising three-year-old Sacred Elixir could earn himself a crack at the best weight-for-age performers in Australasia in the spring.
Cambridge trainer Tony Pike hasn’t ruled out the Group I winner taking on the older horses if his form warranted it.
‘‘He will kick off in the Caulfield Guineas Prelude on September 24, that’s obviously a nice race to get him ready for the Caulfield Guinea,’’ the Cambridge trainer said.
‘‘Then we will decide what path we take – the VRC Derby or if he was to be really dominant in the Caulfield Guineas we could consider the Cox Plate, it will just depend how he is going.’’