Racing: Barinka finally has her turn in limelight

Barinka (outer) beats Smoulder (centre) and Fleur De Lune in the Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha. Photo / Trish Dunell

Poor old Barinka.

How many races does she have to win to finally be tagged as a glamour horse?

Even after winning group one glory in Saturday's $200,000 Stewart Browne Group Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes at Te Aroha she is what she is - the ever reliable Barinka.

Doubtless connections think differently with $372,418 in the bank now and a whole lot more than that in broodmare value as a group one winner.

If you thought you could already smell the Queensland garlic prawns as Barinka went over the line on Saturday, think again.

There will be no repeat of the campaign in Queensland last winter where the mare did well to finish fifth in the Dane Ripper Stakes and second to Adnocon in the A$200,000 Eyeliner Stakes in her only two starts.

"We are going to the Travis Stakes with her at Te Rapa instead," said trainer Karen Zimmerman.

"We've always wanted to run her over 2000m and the Travis is the ideal race. When she runs in that it will be one run too many to think about Queensland. She can go out for a spell instead."

Now Barinka is a group one winner, the only avenue to promote her broodmare value is to win an Australian stakes race.

It is admirable and careful management that the temptation to head to Brisbane has been batted away.

"We'll probably look to taking her to Melbourne in the spring," said Zimmerman.

Present intentions are for Barinka also to be mated with Zabeel this spring.

This was a race in which the guns did not feature. The three favourites, Guiseppina, Keep The Peace and Banchee, finished 12th, 9th and 7th.

James McDonald said Guiseppina was never happy on the slow (7) track.

The conditions did not look that bad, but horses were making hard work of it, particularly those that had to come wider than three horse widths from the inside rail.

The raceday threw up a bias for on-pace runners and those close in towards the rail. There is always an exception to any pattern as Roi d'Jeu showed when he stormed down the outside to win the Te Aroha Cup. But he was the best horse in the race.

Because she got back beyond midfield Guiseppina had no choice but to scout to the centre of the track around the home turn and could make no progress from there.

When questioned by stewards over the disappointing run by Keep The Peace, Opie Bosson said he thought the mare might have been feeling the effects of recent racing.

Trainer Shaune Ritchie agreed. "She can go out for a spell now. She's racing lengths behind her best and that's evidenced by the fact of how far Barinka finished behind her when she beat Wall Street at Otaki."

Keep The Peace's New York owner takes over full ownership on August 1 with Ritchie being retained as trainer.

"She'll go straight to Melbourne in the spring without racing at the Hastings carnival. She'll run in the group two mares' races which culminate in the group one Myers Stakes at the Melbourne Cup carnival."

Smoulder emphasised how under-rated she is by finishing powerfully into second, taking significant ground off Barinka in the final strides.

Similarly, Fleur De Lune, having not previously raced above R90 level, gave connections a thrill by leading and looking likely to win at the 220m.

Smoulder and Fleur De Lune should really make names for themselves as 4-year-olds next season.