Amarula could be one to watch in Race 3 at Ruakākā Racing's Prestigious Raceday tomorrow.
The Group 3 $70,000 Cambridge Stud Northland Breeders has once again attracted a quality field deserving of its status among the elite 3-year-old races in NZ.
The quality of the race is led by the Group 1 winner as a 2-year-old Sword Of Osman and the very impressive last start Ruakākā winner Melt.
Sword Of Osman won on three occasions in his juvenile year, with victory in the Group 1 Sistema Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie over stablemate and Champion 2-year-old Avantage the highlight of the campaign.
The son of Savabeel is prepared by Jamie Richards at Matamata and is being set for the Group 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai 46th New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m) at Riccarton in November.
The field has considerable depth with a number of winners such as the locally trained Happy Ella in good form, Jon Wick returning from a break and the Baker/Forsman team sending the recent trial winner Madison County to Ruakākā for his first run in his 3-year-old campaign.
The sponsor of the race Cambridge Stud has Reevederci (Aus) returning from a spell after winning its only start back in June at Avondale by 8-1/2 lengths. The stablemate Sistabeel (Aus) will be very hard to beat in the Gibbons Harris Dowd Rating 65 over 1200 metres.
Peter McKay has had a very quiet Ruakaka winter season compared to previous years, but his maiden runner Sagunto was third to Cyber Attack in the El Roca and will be further improved by that experience, that was only his fourth start in a race.
The stable has the well proven open runner Amarula tackling the open 1200 metres sprint.
The inaugural Logan Racing Ruakaka Cup for $40,000 over 2200 metres brings together several runners who have been in consistent form this winter.
The Kenny Rae racing stables' Major Tom has been a consistent performer in winning through the grades this winter and had a very hard run last start to lead before being be run down by He's Cavalier.
The new 2200 metre start position provides for a longer lead in to the turn and if he can settle on the pace then Major Tom will be the one to run down.
The Team Rogerson runner Assign is clearly the best performed runner in the race having proved himself by winning the prestigious Group 2 Herbert Power at Caulfield and at Group 3 level at Rosehill over 2000 metres.
Second up in this preparation and straight out to the 2200 metres may be a little tough but given that he was rated good enough to start in a Melbourne Cup he will add great interest in the race.
RACE 1
12.37pm (NZT) TAVISTOCK AT CAMBRIDGE STUD MAIDEN
$10,000, MDN 3YO, 1200m
1 4x3 Mr Universe b (2) 57.5 -
2 Te Akau Dragon (12) 57.5 S Rusof
3 9x Yulong Express (1) 57.5 L Innes 4 6 Wings (7) 57.5 T Thornton
5 0x8 Iron Eagle (13) 57.5 M Coleman
6 5x0x8 Our Prom King h (3) 57.5 J Fawcett (a2)
7 Red Jakkal 57.5 Scratched
8 9 The Hammer (10) 57.5 J Nason
9 46x33 Power Of Strength (8) 55.5 T Yanagida (a4)
10 63x5 Pacific h (11) 55.5 M Cameron
11 7x5 Chapeau h (4) 55.5 C Lammas
12 5x Pushmee (9) 55.5 S Spratt
13 0 Let Me Tell Ya (6) 55.5 D Johnson
14 7 Quintuple Twins h (5) 55.5 J Bayliss
RACE 2
1.12pm ALMANZOR AT CAMBRIDGE STUD MAIDEN
$10,000, MDN 3YO, 1400m
1 33 Call Me Murphy bh (7) 57.5 C Lammas
2 7x7x0 Beastmode (3) 57.5 -
3 77x24 Hasabro (14) 57.5 S Spratt
4 x4727 Keep The Cash h (6) 57.5 J Fawcett (a2)
5 53 Lumberjack h (17) 57.5 S Collett
6 3 Quizmaster h (11) 57.5 D Johnson
7 663x8 Mighty Connor (15) 57.5 R Jones
8 30x Sahar b (8) 57.5 M Cameron
9 Golden Age (10) 57.5 S Rusof
10 9 Blue On Black (12) 57.5 L Innes
11 059 Invigorate (5) 57.5 T Thornton
12 6x85x Danelyn (4) 55.5 M Coleman
13 290x6 Imelda Mary (1) 55.5 B Grylls
14 0 Casual Winks h (2) 55.5 R Smyth
15 0 Rock With Choux (16) 57.5 J Nason
16 7x57 The Midnight Shift 57.5 Scratched
17 Ocean Star (13) 57.5 -
18 5x0x8 Our Prom King h (9) 57.5 -
Emergencies: Rock With Choux, The Midnight Shift, Ocean Star, Our Prom King
RACE 3
1.51pm PATRON'S TROPHY
$35,000, OPN HCP, 1200m
1 2499x Amarula td (6) 60.5 C Lammas
2 6320x Tiptronic (5) 56 J Bayliss
3 50240 Prom Queen tdh (3) 54 S Collett
4 63342 Rikki Tikki Tavi tdh (4) 54 S Spratt 5 11302 Santa Monica td (1) 54 T Thornton
6 06723 Memories Only d (2) 54 A Sims (a3)
RACE 4
2.26pm PHILPOTT AIRFREIGHT LTD
$22,500, Rating 65 Benchmark*, 2100m
1 43378 Rough Cut (9) 60 C Lammas
2 0x932 Transformer h (6) 59.5 S Spratt
3 68124 Los Angeles h (7) 57.5 T Thornton
4 03108 Shockwave (3) 57.5 D Danis (a3)
5 0x256 Tavlin th (4) 57.5 J Bayliss
6 51798 Mr Big m (1) 57 C Dell
7 20065 Rocanic td (8) 56.5 J Nason
8 6x066 Chachi Arcola d (5) 55.5 S Collett
9 9629 Tavirose h (10) 54 D Johnson
10 x7047 Slice 'N Dice h (2) 54 J Fawcett (a2)
RACE 5
3.00pm GIBBONS HARRIS DOWD
$22,500, Rating 65 Benchmark*, 1200m
1 6427x Money Trail tdm (7) 60 T Yanagida (a4)
2 47759 Straight Sets dm (4) 60 T Thornton
3 303x3 Danger Dee (12) 59 R Jones
4 7103 Felix Faure t (5) 59 S Rusof
5 10 Ceecee Signor tdh (13) 58.5 C Lammas 6 2148x Sistabeel td (11) 58 L Innes
7 2237x Silver Cloud d (10) 57.5 D Johnson
8 315x One Bakerstreet td (1) 57 S Spratt
9 9890x Nopele (2) 57 T Miles (a4)
10 38x18 Not Usual Current th (8) 56.5 M Cameron
11 5160x Vasiliki (9) 56.5 S Collett
12 x9585 Swiss Eire d (6) 56.5 M Coleman
13 86x00 Noodles h (3) 54 J Fawcett (a2)
RACE 6
3.34pm LOGAN RACING RUAKĀKĀ CUP
$40,000, OPN HCP, 2200m
1 x30x4 Assign m (3) 60 B Grylls
2 46x72 Bee Tee Junior dm (2) 55.5 L Innes
3 53251 He's Cavalier tm (7) 54 K Cowan (a3)
4 11192 Major Tom tmbh (6) 54 J Fawcett (a2)
5 28x17 Greencast th (1) 54 S Spratt
6 67128 Locally Sauced m (8) 54 A Sims (a3)
7 62024 Jake The Muss h (10) 54 M Cameron
8 06423 Banrock (9) 54 D Johnson
9 73445 Beaufighter mh (4) 54 C Lammas
10 09973 Smedley tdm (5) 54 J Nason
RACE 7
4.09pm CAMBRIDGE STUD NORTHLAND BREEDERS' STAKES
$70,000, 3YO SW, 1200m
1 8117x Sword Of Osman db (6) 56.5 S Rusof
2 6x715 Jon Wick td (11) 56.5 D Johnson
3 31x Madison County (7) 56.5 M Cameron
4 1x Reevederci dm (3) 56.5 L Innes
5 26x43 Sagunto (4) 56.5 C Lammas
6 4x3 Mr Universe b (9) 56.5 J Bayliss
7 7x57 The Midnight Shift (5) 56.5 L Satherley
8 162x1 Melt td (1) 54.5 S Spratt
9 61233 Hapi Ella th (10) 54.5 S Collett
10 44414 Nulli Secundus td (12) 54.5 R Smyth
11 63x5 Pacific h (2) 54.5 -
12 7x5 Chapeau h (8) 54.5 -
RACE 8
4.44pm WHANGĀREI LOVE IT HERE
$30,000, Rating 82 Benchmark, 1400m
1 7287x Mongolianconqueror d (2) 62.5 N Bakar (a4)
2 0160x Diesel m (10) 60 K Cowan (a3)
3 5126x Yearn d (11) 59 S Rusof
4 85121 Amun Ra m (12) 58.5 L Innes
5 4161x Magic Of The Sun td (1) 58.5 S Spratt
6 210x6 Richie McHorse th (6) 58.5 J Fawcett (a2)
7 x3237 Rockabyebaby tdh (3) 56.5 S Collett
8 1148x Mongolian Marshal 56 Scratched
9 61231 Ohceedee t (5) 56 D Johnson
10 83626 The Kipling Girl d (4) 54.5 B Grylls
11 x1137 Not Usual Heart tbh (8) 54 C Lammas
12 007x9 Inanna tdh (9) 54 R Smyth
13 x1206 Rocette Lady tdh (7) 54 A Calder
RACE 9
5.20pm WHANGĀREI ITM
$25,000, Rating 72 Benchmark, 1600m
1 340x7 Caricature d (15) 59 L Innes
2 312x8 Felaar db (12) 59 D Johnson
3 50121 Final Suggestion tdh (5) 58.5 M Coleman
4 2413x Aigne b (3) 58 T Allan
5 x8576 Creative Genius td (7) 58 M Cameron
6 000x4 Nothing Trivial d (6) 58 R Jones 7 37421 O'Guy t (8) 58 S Spratt
8 6112x Qian Gua dmb (14) 58 S Rusof
9 03671 Vittachi m (2) 58 S Collett
10 931x0 Narvick (11) 57.5 J Fawcett (a2)
11 01234 Kyrie Eleison tdbh (1) 56.5 C Lammas
12 478x2 Kachhi dh (17) 56 B Grylls
13 53485 I See Red tdh (10) 55.5 A Calder
14 77118 Marbles tdh (18) 55.5 J Bayliss
15 43923 Two Thirty 56.5 Scratched
16 23410 Ole Ole 54 Scratched
17 87443 Rene (16) 56 D Danis (a3)
18 30238 Poker Face tdb (4) 55.5 -
19 x1206 Rocette Lady th (13) 55.5 -
20 0x256 Tavlin tdh (9) 54 -
Celebrating the Knights and Dames appointed in this year's King's Birthday Honours list. Video / NZ Herald