Racing: Chances of major Australian win continue to diminish for New Zealand horses

Coventina Bay. Photo / Race Images

New Zealand's last chance of a major racing win in Australia for the season has become even more challenging.

A lean few months on Australian soil for Kiwi-trained horses continued at Eagle Farm in Brisbane on Saturday when top Taranaki mare Coventina Bay could manage only seventh in the A$200,000 Dane Ripper, her first start on Australian soil.

Trainer Robbie Patterson is adamant his stable star will improve enormously with the outing but after other results over the weekend she may need to as she heads to the A$600,000 Tatts Tiara on the Sunshine Coast in 12 days.

Waiting for her there and headlining a potentially exceptional field may be Tofane, the New Zealand-bred mare who won Saturday's feature at Eagle Farm, the A$1.5 million Stradbroke Handicap.

Trained by expat horseman Mike Moroney, Tofane was set to be sold at the broodmare sale on the Gold Coast last month but was pulled out of that sale, a decision that paid huge dividends on Saturday.

A daughter of Waikato Stud stallion Ocean Park, Tofane was bred by Curraghmore Stud and after her second Group 1 on Saturday she could now head to the Tatts Tiara before racing on next season.

The Tiara was a race Patterson picked out for Coventina Bay a few months ago hoping it would be the long-hanging fruit of the Queensland carnival feature races but with Tofane a chance to head there, along with a host of other top mares, it is no longer looking an easy target.

But Patterson is adamant Coventina Bay will be at her peak for the 1600m thriller even after she could only manage seventh on Saturday.

"She got down on the inside of the track and that wasn't the place to be," he told the Herald.

"They were sweeping home down the outside or at least the middle of the track all day so she couldn't win from where she was and the 1300m was always going to be too short for her.

"But that will bring her on nicely and she should be exactly where she needs to be for the Tiara."

Coventina Bay snuck into contention at the 200m mark and looked a top three chance before the swoopers outkicked her late but her performance had enough merit for Australian bookmakers to keep her around the $17 mark for the Tiara.

"It is looking like being a good field so it won't be an easy race but at least my mare is going to be fitter next start."

Cambridge galloper Quick Thinker was scratched from the A$1.2 million Q22 race because of the hard Eagle Farm track and will now spell in New South Wales before being set for another Australian campaign next season.

His trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman had success closer to home when their juvenile filly Mustang Valley broke her maiden at Te Rapa on Saturday like a horse with a future.