“She is a really good filly, after all she nearly beat Return To Conquer on debut last season,” said Ritchie.
“But I thought today might be too sharp so that is a big win fresh up.”
Tajana was Group 1 placed in the Sires’ Produce last season so has one major aim this spring, snaring a Group 1 and that means the 1000 Guineas, now moved to the first day of New Zealand Cup week at Riccarton.
“Because that is our main target you won’t see her for five weeks,” said Ritchie.
“She will get ready for the new version of the Sunline Vase, which is now a 1400m 3-year-old fillies race at Ellerslie on September 20, and that gives her four weeks into the Soliloquy Stakes also at Ellerslie.
“I think nine of the last 10 winners of the 1000 Guineas have raced in the Soliloquy so we are taking that path too.”
Ritchie has more than monetary reasons for wanting to win the 1000 Guineas for Tajana’s owners The Oaks Stud.
“We have run second in it three times.
“I have trained the winner of the Oaks, Derby and the 2000 Guineas so I want a 1000 Guineas so I can say I have the full set.
I don’t think this filly is going to need to improve much to be a real chance.”
Bookmakers agree with Tajana now $7 equal favourite with Lucy In The Sky for the Guineas.
Tuxedo won’t have to wait that long for his shot at Group 1 glory and he will take a fitness edge over his key rivals into the $400,000 Proisir Plate at Ellerslie on September 6.
He cruised to his victory on Saturday as he should because he was so well off at the weights but he is a horse with huge spring options, being competitive from 1400m to 2000m, which takes in all three legs of the spring Triple Crown.
“He has come up really well and being up here [Ruakākā] for a week has been great for him,” said Ritchie.
He said he had second thoughts about starting Tuxedo fresh up at 1400m and staying at the same trip for the Proisir, with so many trainers preferring to step horses up in distance for their second runs in case the first has dulled their sprinting instincts.
“I did think about that but I also think a quite soft 1400m like today, especially on a sand-based track, takes less out of them than a stronger 1200m like we might see in the Foxbridge Plate at Te Rapa next week.
“We know he is going to need to be even better to win the Proisir but he is a horse with a lot of options.”
Tuxedo sits on the third line of betting for the Proisir Plate behind equal favourites Legarto and Grail Seeker.
Taupō tests for 3-year-olds
The early 3-year-old form will get two more thorough examinations at Taupō today when a host of horses in the Guineas markets make their debuts for the season.
The $40,000 boys race over 1100m (Race 6) has To Bravery Born as the $1.80 favourite after a good recent trial, his opposition not as deep as the 3-year-old fillies race that follows it.
Stephen Marsh dominates the second 3-year-old race with four smart fillies, but it is a serious contest with the TAB Racing Club-owned In Haste also looking like a filly going places.
Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.
