Sensei ready to rumble again
Father and son training duo Michael and Matthew Pitman begin a massive New Zealand Cup week at Riccarton today.
They have 16 horses entered for the first day of the carnival and expect to feature prominently. The Riccarton trainers are looking forward to the resumption of group one performer Sensei, who will contest the Listed Yesberg Insurance Service Pegasus Stakes (1000m) alongside stablemate Exemplar.
The Pitmans are happy with the progress of the five-year-old entire and they expect a bold showing from him.
‘‘We gave him a decent spell and he came back into work in June and we have quietly built up his fitness,’’ Matthew Pitman said. ‘‘We were really happy with the way he trialled a couple of weeks back and his work has been pretty exceptional since then.
‘‘He will improve with the run, but fresh-up over 1000m he will be right in it.’’
The son of Dream Ahead won the Listed Stewards Stakes Handicap (1200m) in last year’s carnival, but a wet forecast for Christchurch next week has the trainers reassessing their plans.
‘‘It was a race that we had targeted with him,’’ Pitman said. ‘‘But with the wet track predicted on Wednesday, he might end up avoiding there.
‘‘ If that happens we will possibly target the stakes race at Dunedin (Listed Hazlett Stakes, 1200m) on Boxing Day with a view to having another crack at the Telegraph (Gr.1, 1200m).’’
Pitman has a pair of contenders vying to dethrone star three-yearold Catalyst in the NZ 2000 Guineas (1600m).
He was pleased with Chuck A Luck and All About Magic’s placings in the Gr.3 War Decree Stakes (1600m) last start and he believes both can feature in the finish.
‘‘Both of their runs were exceptional the other day at Riccarton. All About Magic came from last and had to come around every horse and flew home late to finish third. She also gets that fillies weight relief.’’ NZ Racing Desk