NZ trainers happy after stakes runs

CONNECTIONS of Makybe Diva Stakes runners at Flemington on Saturday were of the opinion there were no bad runs – some just weren’t as good as others.

Kiwi connections of Rising Romance and Mongolian Khan were beaming while connections of Volkstok’n’barrell were forgiving.

Stewards advised that it was the stable’s intention, circumstances permitting, to have Volkstok’n’barrell ridden forward in the Group I feature.

He went forward from his wide draw and worked across to a spot behind the speed but couldn’t compete at the business end.

Rider, Craig Williams, reported that he was not disappointed with the horse’s overall performance as he did not have a lot of racing room inside the final 150 metres and was then held up and in his view still had something to give.

A post race veterinary examination failed to reveal any obvious abnormality.

Although finishing last, Williams didn’t knock him around and he was just over four lengths in arrears of Fawkner at the post.

Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman were delighted with Mongolian Khan’s run for seventh right in behind the placed horses.

The last 600 metres were run in 33.6 seconds, too quick for the Cambridge stayer to stick with the pace but it was noticeable he was the last horse to pull up – a positive sign for a horse with the Melbourne Cup as his grand final.

‘‘Don’t worry, that was a good run. He’ll clean up nicely with that,’’ Baker told New Zealand journalist Dennis Ryan.New Zealand-owned Rising Romance ran a brilliant second and last year’s Caulfield Cup runner-up is on target for the same race.