Bonny Lass faces triple issues
The last few days have dampened Graham Richardson’s enthusiasm about the prospects of Bonny Lass in today’s Group III Haunui Farm Counties Bowl (1100m) at Pukekohe.
Richardson and his training partner Rogan Norvall mapped out a threerace spring campaign for their quality sprinting mare, kicking off in last month’s Group III Sweynesse Stakes (1215m) before contesting the Counties Bowl and culminating in the Group I Sistema Railway (1200m) on New Year’s Day.
The campaign could hardly have started on a better note, with Bonny Lass scoring an impressive first-up win in the weight-for-age Sweynesse at Rotorua on October 16. Richardson and Norvall have been happy with their four-year-old Super Easy mare’s progress through the four weeks since, but a range of other factors have made them a cautious around her $3.30 favouritism for this weekend’s $110,000 race.
‘‘I wasn’t very happy when we landed the extreme outside gate (11),’’ Richardson said. ‘‘And that’s on top of carrying the topweight of 60 kilograms, plus the likelihood that the track has copped a bit of rain over the past few days. None of that is ideal for us at all, but there’s not a lot we can do about it. I think it’s going to take a big effort from the mare. But apart from all that, she’s going extremely well. We’re deliberately spacing her races right out in this preparation, because she’s a better mare fresh.
‘‘I thought she was hugely impressive first-up, and with a lot of improvement still to come. She’s gone the right way since then and worked up very nicely on Tuesday morning.’’
Richardson and Norvall have managed a remarkable black-type strike rate through the last few weeks.
The Matamata pair have trained five winners so far this season, and three of them have come at stakes level – Paisley Park in the Listed Matamata Cup (1600m), Bonny Lass in the Sweynesse and Defibrillate in the Group III Balmerino Stakes (2050m).
That black-type treble has already equalled the career-best number of stakes winners in a season for the Richardson-Norvall partnership, and it is Richardson’s best since he trained five feature winners in 2011-12.
Bonny Lass will be backed up at Pukekohe on Saturday by first-starter Buccino in the Challenge Stakes (1100m), while Red Hussar sits second on the ballot for the Group III Pukekohe Traders Counties Cup (2100m).
Two-year-old Lonhro filly Buccino was bought by Richardson in partnership with Brendon McCullum from Inglewood Stud’s Book 1 draft at Karaka 2022 in March.
‘‘She’s had one trial and won it nicely,’’ Richardson said. ‘‘She still doesn’t know much, but in saying that, there’s only one horse in this field that’s won a race. We’re happy to give her a shot at it, and if she happened to run third and pick up some black type, we’d be over the moon.
‘‘She’s certainly a filly worth following through the season. All going well, I’d like to get her to the Eclipse Stakes (Group II, 1200m) and then potentially carry on into something like the Karaka Million (1200m) or Matamata Breeders’ Stakes (Gr.2, 1200m).
‘‘Then we’ve got Red Hussar, who’s entered for the Counties Cup and also in the rating 75 mile. He’s going nicely, and I’m hoping he’ll get a run in the Cup, where I think he’ll be a very nice lightweight chance.
New Zealand’s best women rugby players had only three or four weeks to sort out their playing futures after a change to the Super Rugby Aupiki contracting model prompted what coaches have described as a ‘‘free-for-all’’ and ‘‘hunting season’’.
Hurricanes Poua coach Victoria Grant and Chiefs Manawa coach Crystal Kaua both told Stuff that compiling Super Rugby Aupiki squads for 2023 – they will be announced on Monday – had been a chaotic and stressful period that meant some Black Ferns even entered Rugby World Cup camps without knowing where they would play.
‘‘We had a short window to sign 28 players and it was a free-for-all,’’ Kaua said. ‘‘It wasn’t like the previous year when we got to name 15 players from our region.
‘‘This year, that wasn’t the case. This year, you could approach players from any team.
‘‘I started calling the day after the World Cup [Sevens] finished [in midSeptember]. Players could have four phone calls from head coaches.
‘‘You had players in World Cup camps who still needed to sign contracts. It was a challenging time to do it. It was a big few weeks for coaches.’’