Orchestral had a disappointing spring by her high standards, with three unplaced efforts, all of differing merit.
She was expected to need her fresh-up run when only okay over 1400m at Ellerslie in September and was then luckless in the Group 1 Toorak at Caulfield.
The 4 year old had no excuses when she failed to produce her best in the Empire Rose over 1600m at Flemington but Wellwood and training partner Roger James aren’t too worried about that.
“You go back to last season and she put in a shocker at Hastings to start her campaign, yet went on to win
$2m in the remainder of that season. Everybody knows how good she is and she seems really happy, albeit we haven’t put much pressure on her yet.
“We’re looking forward to having this gallop on Wednesday, then seeing how she performs on the 12th, and all going well, the Aotearoa Classic is the major aim.”
That will take Orchestral back to Karaka Millions night, where she produced a stunning win in the Three-Year-Old KM before then destroying her rivals in the Avondale Guineas and New Zealand Derby.
That makes her the best-performed horse at the “new” Ellerslie since the StrathAyr track was installed, and if she has shaken off her spring blues, which Wellwood and James were open about heading into that last campaign, she could come roaring back to national or even transtasman prominence.
Orchestral is rated the $5 favourite for the Aotearoa Classic for 4-year-olds, and with no other Group 1 winners in the entries, she could get into the race incredibly well with her 2kg mare’s allowance from the male gallopers with inferior records.
While Orchestral can’t win you any money at Ellerslie on Wednesday, she has a couple of stablemates who can.
The James-Wellwood partnership has Dionysus backing up from the Zabeel Classic into the $250,000 Queen Elizabeth II Cup and he looks beautifully placed.
He is already a Waikato Cup winner over Wednesday’s 2400m distance and was a close-up sixth, beaten home by five Group 1 winners, in the Zabeel on Boxing Day.
“He has bounced out of that well and this looks a nice race for him, only having to carry 57.5kg, because most of the time he is in handicap races, he carries a lot more.”
At a $5.50 opening quote, Dionysus looks a good each-way bet.
The stable also has speedster Sweynesday in the open 1200m against Twain, as the two emerging sprinters go head to head, with the potential a top-grade performance could launch one of them into the Railway, which used to be on New Year’s Day but now adds Group 1 gravitas to Karaka Millions night.
“We really like our horse, and while the Railway is still a pipe dream, we’ll know more after this week.”
Most of the country’s elite sprinters won’t be at Ellerslie this week, as they head to the $550,000 TAB Telegraph at Trentham, which has been moved to next Saturday, earlier than usual, to provide a three-week gap to the Railway.
New Year’s Day
What: One of racing’s iconic dates.
Where: Ellerslie, Auckland.
When: Wednesday, first race 12.05pm.
Highlights: $270,000 Rich Hill Mile, $270,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Stakes, $250,000 Queen Elizabeth II Cup, $225,000 Skycity Eclipse Stakes.
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.
