Danzdanzdance tongue-tied

Dual Group I winner Danzdanzdance starts her spring campaign at Hastings today and her connections are hoping a gear change will aid the mare.

Trainers Chris Gibbs and Michelle Bradley elected to trial the five-year-old over 1000m at Avondale earlier this month to test the addition of a tongue-tie and were satisfied with the hit-out.

‘‘That’s basically the only reason why we trialled her,’’ Gibbs said. ‘‘We didn’t want to go all the way down to Hastings with such a change in gear without trying it out first.

‘‘It was really heavy that day, so I wasn’t expecting her to do anything crazy. She had a little blow and the main thing was that she settled with the tongue-tie on.’’

Danzdanzdance got her tongue over the bit in the Group I Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m) in Australia last season and Gibbs is hoping the addition of the tonguetie will assist her performance.

‘‘She got her tongue over [the bit] badly in the race against Winx,’’ Gibbs said.

‘‘Opie had a hell of a job just trying to settle her. I have a feeling she might have done it as far back as the Bonecrusher (Group I, 2000m). She didn’t really settle like she can do and she was pulling in the Ranvet, so I don’t think we have seen the best of her to be honest.

‘‘I am hoping that is going to work the oracle and we can get some better results out of her.’’

While the 1400m Tarzino is short of her best distance, Gibbs is relatively confident although he is wary of $2.70 favourite Endless Drama. ‘‘I think you have got to be optimistic that we can be competitive over 1400m.’’

NZ Racing Desk