She was a luckless third in the controversial false-start TAB Classic at Trentham in December and while she has only had 10 starts for the season, four of them have been at Group 1 level and another four at black-type.
“She has done a great job all season but we have given her small breaks to help her handle it,” says Clotworthy, who trains in partnership with his wife Emma.
“Being an older mare [7] we don’t give her a break for too long but she has held together really well.
“Next season, she will race on for a while but hopefully also be in foal. She will be served [go to stud] in the spring and all going well, she should be able to race for into the New Year.”
While that will be new territory for Malt Time, the Ruakākā track is not, as she has bolted away with both her starts there, including two starts ago when ridden by Ace Lawson-Carroll, who rides her again tomorrow, while claiming 2kgs.
“She really likes it up there and a Soft 5 should be perfect for her,” says Clotworthy.
“She has a bit of weight when you look at it in the book but Ace’s claim takes her down to 58.5kgs, which is fine and obviously he knows her really well.
Clotworthy says he thinks Malt Time is almost ready for 1600 metres again so they have deliberately kept her fresh for the 1400m, “but there could be some pace in the race and the small field should help her sitting back off them”.
As improved as Malt Time has been this season, tomorrow’s race is far tougher than what is usually dished up in winter, albeit the Ruakākā fields are smaller than they were for this Winter Finals meeting last season.
The topweight Shamus is a proven group performer who was once the favourite for the New Zealand Derby, until he reverted to sprinting.
He was impressive winning here last start for new trainers Moira and Kieran Murdoch, ironically with Lawson-Carroll in the saddle, and loses nothing tomorrow with in-form Triston Moodley in the saddle and claiming 3kgs, meaning he will carry the same 58.5kgs as Malt Time.
With a natural pacemaker in Turn The Ace racing so well, local mare Pippy chasing her fifth Ruakākā victory and the highly-rated Master Brutus, who has been luckless in both starts this campaign, the race sets up as the highlight of the four ITM/GIB Winter Finals tomorrow.
McNab needs huge weekend
If Michael McNab is going to defend his jockey’s premiership title, he needs a huge weekend, starting at Riccarton today.
McNab goes into the weekend 10 wins behind Warren Kennedy on the premiership standings after missing nearly three weeks of riding last month, because of injuries suffered in a race fall at Te Rapa.
Both men rode one winner at Cambridge on Wednesday and they will head to Riccarton today and Ruakākā tomorrow.
After that, they will only be able to ride at a maximum of 10 meetings each before the end of the season – so if this weekend is a stalemate, McNab will need to ride at least one more winner then Kennedy every race day to have a chance of defending the title he has won the last two seasons.
Their respective books over the next two days look of about equal quality – so barring a miracle, the premiership now looks Kennedy’s to lose.
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.
