He is back with the Group 1 Proisir Plate at Ellerslie on September 6 in his sights, but with that race worth 10 times what Saturday’s 1400m is, Noble is using today as a fact-finding mission.
“Sure, we’d love him to win but he probably can’t carrying 62kg and to be honest we did think about putting an apprentice on to claim,” Noble told the Herald.
“But we wanted Warren [Kennedy, regular rider] to ride him so he could tell us how he feels and where we stand.
“He seems fine in himself and while the colic operation wasn’t ideal, it is not like a structural issue where a horse might remember it and try to look after themselves.
“He is a Group 1 horse so that is what we are aiming him at and if that means we use this week to see where he is at instead of claiming, it is the right thing to do.”
Making Habana’s 62kg topweight harder to carry is the fact he will give 7-8kg to all his rivals, including the talented Tuxedo.
Tuxedo hasn’t raced since the NZ Derby in March and won the Waikato Guineas (2000m) before that, but his second to Damask Rose in the Karaka Million 3-Year-Old at 1600m suggests he can be proficient at 1400m today.
He wasn’t asked for his best but still showed good tactical speed in his recent 1100m trial at Taupō, finishing second to Age Of Discovery.
Age Of Discovery looks a huge winning chance in Race 3 today and will be trying to give champion jockey Opie Bosson the first win of his comeback.
Good enough to be the one-time favourite for last season’s NZ 2000 Guineas, Age Of Discovery has been gelded and comes back at a handy place in the ratings.
Today’s feature is the $100,000 Group 2 Cambridge Stud Northland Breeders Stakes, one of three high-class, 3-year-old races this weekend.
Geneva (R6, No 1) appears the most logical winner with his jump and run speed, but the race has plenty of depth and the more pressure there is in the first half could determine how many winning chances there are at the 200m.
There are also two stacked 3-year-old races at Taupō on Sunday, so while spring may not officially be here, if the weather holds and provides two good tracks it will feel like it has arrived.
Spring will feel even more sprung in Melbourne as Caulfield hosts the first real glamour race of the new season.
There is a strong Kiwi feel to the Group 2 Lawrence Stakes at Caulfield with last season’s BCB Sprint winner Here To Shock, former Aotearoa Classic winner Desert Lightning and NZB Kiwi runner-up Evaporate all in the market.
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.
