Francaletta wins Breeders
GIVING up the chance to ride at home on Matamata Cup day to drive four hours south was no issue for veteran jockey Michael Coleman after he got Francaletta home in the Group III Taranaki Breeders Stakes at Hawera on Saturday.
Coleman has long held the 5-year-old in high regard and was delighted cotrainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman had finally got some blacktype for the daughter of High Chaparral.
Neither Baker nor Forsman were on course given they had bigger assignments up north and particularly across the Tasman but Coleman said their pre-race confidence was justified throughout the 1400m trip.
‘‘She was always travelling like the winner even though she had a bit of a flat patch when she straightened she really put in,’’ he said.
Forsman told punters to forget Franaletta’s last start fifth when she was second-up over 1600m and his words resonated with punters who sent her out as a $3.50 favourite.
She did not have things all her own way, however, with Aide Memoire refusing to go away on the rail even though she looked beaten 200m out.
Coleman kept asking Francaletta for an effort and she responded to win by half a length while last year’s winner Under the moonlight was a further 41⁄2 lengths back in third.
It was another good run by Under the moonlight who was competitive in the first two Group I races at Hastings but she was not up to the winner.
Meanwhile, the connections of Wait A Sec will contemplate paying up late for the Group I Livamol Classic after he won the $40,000 Kaponga Hotel Egmont Cup.
Co-trainer Grant Cullen confirmed it was more than tempting after the son of Postponed edged outsider Itsallbelt by a nose in the 2100m open handicap.
There was an anxious wait for Cullen and punters as judge Ron Stanley took his time declaring the winner.
Wait A Sec, who won four in a row before he was third to the promising Nymph Monte at Hastings last start, flashed down the outside for jockey Johnathan Parkes to pick Itsallbelt.
‘‘He should have won at Hastings but he was caught four wide the whole way,’’ Cullen said.
Cullen, who trains in partnership with Guy Lowry, said while the New Zealand Cup was the long-term plan for Wait A Sec, they were tempted to run at Hastings next week and run in the weight-for- age feature which was rescheduled because of unsafe track conditions last week.
The Egmont Cup was a muddling run as the pace was good early but the leaders buttoned off considerably after they went past the finishing post for the first time.
‘‘The really put the brakes on but Parkesy knows the horse well and got him home,’’ Cullen said.
Parkes was not committing to the ride iLivamol ride but would wait and see what the connections decided.
‘‘The New Zealand Cup is his main goal and he’s looking very good going forward heading towards that race,’’ Parkes said.
‘‘He had to carry 59 kilos today and it was a slow pace so I had to get rolling and go around them all and he’s done his best work right on the winning post and that’s the sort of thing you want to see going forward to a cup race.’’
IT was mission accomplished for Saturday’s Matamata Cup winner Cote D’Or.
The team behind the richly-bred Makfi mare, set the 1600 metre Listed feature as her short-term goal when she returned for her current campaign.
‘‘It’s a pleasing to get a black-type win,’’ said Ken Kelso who trains the mare with his wife Bev for Sir Peter Vela.
‘‘I’m sure there’s bigger things in store. We’ll sit down and work out a plan. She would run through a brick wall if you asked her to. It was a tough win today’’