Star juvenile filly sidelined for spring as horse racing increases Covid restrictions

Exceptional filly Play That Song, seen here winning at Ellerslie, won't race this spring. PICTURE/ RACE IMAGES

Another of New Zealand's elite juveniles from last season it set to miss the first group ones of spring.

But trainer Nigel Tiley isn't panicking with high-class filly Play That Song.

The Karaka Million runner-up joins her conqueror from that $1 million race in Cool Aza Beel on the sidelines for spring and potentially the rest of 2020, meaning both will miss the group one Guineas races at Riccarton in November.

Play That Song, who won three of her five starts last season including the Eclipse Stakes at Ellerslie, has had a small bone chip removed from a leg and while she won't be out for long the early fillies races or even features like the Hawkes Bay Guineas as now off the table.

"She will be fine and it won't cost her a lot of time but just enough to miss those spring races," says Tiley.

"We have an obvious aim in January in the Karaka Mile ($1 million) so we can aim her at that and there is plenty of racing after that.

"The timing was hardly ideal but she was no certainty to go to Riccarton for the Guineas anyway."

Cool Aza Beel, who will win two-year-old of the year at the annual NZTR awards in October, had earlier pulled out of the spring with a minor leg issue and his summer goals could be different as trainer Jamie Richards is not certain he is a 1600m horse so he could stick to sprint racing rather than the Karaka Mile.

The TAB markets for the 1000 and 2000 Guineas are not expected out until the middle of next month.

Meanwhile, Tiley plans to send a large team to Matamata this Saturday even though he and his staff are unlikely to be able to accompany them.

"We have two good people down in Waikato who can look after them for us for race day and while we would obviously like to be there we have to follow the rules because its important we keep racing going."

** New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has tightened its Covid-19 protocols to make masks compulsory for everybody in the jockey's weigh-in area, the birdcage and at the starting gates.

Jockeys will be required to wear masks on their way to and at the starting gates but can lower them for actual races and trials but they must be back in place upon their return to the enclosure after competing.

NZTR will also make all meetings essential raceday personnel only until the current Covid-19 levels are changed by the Government.

That means while NZTR had the option to allow owners to attend race meetings at Level 2 that will not happen this week but will be reviewed when and if the alert levels are changed.

In another Covid-19 forced change, the meeting scheduled for Ruakaka next Wednesday has been moved to Rotorua because of travel restrictions, not so much for the horses but the large number of Waikato-based jockeys.x