Tracks troubling sprinter
Ryan Mark holds Group 1 nominations for the Railway Stakes and the Telegraph
Ryan Mark’s chances of another crack at a Group 1 prize this preparation are in the balance. The stakes-winning sprinter has been feeling the effects of the firmer going since he beat the top-rated Scapolo in the Group 3 Lochinver Station Plate at Rotorua last month.
“He’s been a bit scratchy since the tracks have got harder,” said cobreeder, part-owner and trainer John Morell.
“He’ll probably go to the Concorde if we can get him there and that might be it.”
The winner of seven of his 13 starts, Ryan Mark also holds Group 1 nominations for the Sistema Railway Stakes and the JR & N Berkett Telegraph Handicap.
“I’ll gallop him after the weekend and see how he is, but he has been feeling the ground so we’ve been going quietly,” Morell said.
“It’s day by day with him at the moment and I’ve been taking him to the beach to try and keep him going. We’ll just have to wait and see how he copes.”
Ryan Mark has made two previous appearances in Group 1 company with the rub of the green going against him on both occasions.
He ran seventh from a wide barrier in the Railway Stakes earlier this year and in late August he finished a game runner-up to Kawi in the Makfi Challenge Stakes after racing three wide without cover.
Meanwhile, Morell has Lauren Tate back in work after a lengthy break with foot problems.
“She had a stone bruise that took ages to come right and she won’t run until after Christmas,” he said.
Lauren Tate won the Group 2 Travis Stakes in 2014 and she hasn’t raced since she finished second in her defence of that Te Rapa title in April.
“She looks good and hopefully she’ll be ready for the March meeting at Ellerslie, there’s plenty of fillies and mares’ races in the autumn for her.”
Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie will revert to Plan B this week with their talented sprinter Silver Eclipse.
They are now focusing on Friday’s Listed Levin Stakes with the Group 1 prospect, but they also have another fall-back option should the ground be again unsuitable.
“It’s weather-dependent with her and she’ll go to Otaki as long as the track is okay, otherwise there’s the Concorde the following Saturday,” Ramsay said.
They were cursing their luck with Silver Eclipse, who was primed for a bold showing in the Listed Counties Bowl last Saturday before the rain came. The wet ground forced them to withdraw the stakes winner from the Avondale meeting.
“She was really well in at the weights and had the draw, but she’s quite a big-strider like Guiseppina and needs a good track,” Ramsay said,
The now retired Guiseppina won the Group 1 J & N Berkett Telegraph in 2012 and Silver Eclipse also has the Trentham race on her programme again, as well as the Group 1 Sistema Railway Stakes.
She finished a close fifth in the Ellerslie feature last season and did well to run seventh in the Telegraph from the outside gate.
Silver Eclipse has had one outing this time in for a sixth placing in the Listed Lochinver Station Plate at Rotorua where she was caught three wide without cover from another wide draw. “Her second-up record can’t be faulted – she’s unbeaten,” Ramsay said.
The five-year-old will be accompanied to Otaki by her younger sister Belle Eclipse, who was a first-up winner on the course earlier this month.
“She’ll run in the Rating 75 and she’s a nice, progressive mare,” Ramsay said.