Racing: Indications all positive for Roi: d'Jeu

Indikator (left) wins last season's Rotorua Cup. Photo / Kelvin Teixeira

It's difficult to come up with a negative around Roi d'Jeu in tomorrow's $85,000 Rotorua Cup.

For starters the talented and improving stayer has won all three starts on the Rotorua course, which is a massive statistic.

He is only 3.5kg above the minimum weight thanks to Sir Slick compressing the weight scale on the race and looks very well placed.

So well placed that he is dropping 2kg after winning in wonderful style at Te Aroha last start.

Even though that was against a lesser field than this, it showed Roi d'Jeu's class.

He got back in the field early on a day when winning from there was extremely difficult and in the closing stages had to switch out wide to get a clear run on a part of the track they simply were not winning on.

"He's done very well since," said trainer Shaune Ritchie.

The Cambridge horseman says there will be no excuses if Roi d'Jeu can't get the job done.

"He's drawn No 6 so I'm not going to tell James [McDonald] how to ride him. From 6 he'll have some lovely options in running."

The only factor Ritchie ever worries about with Roi d'Jeu is the horse's tendency to get himself into a lather before a race. "It would be marvellous if he could start to control himself a little better, but he seems, if anything, to be getting a bit worse.

"It's not that he loses it completely or throws himself, but he gets himself in such a stew.

"He's such a free sweater that I've clipped his coat so the sweat doesn't get tied up in the hair."

Indikator, with 58.5kg, is required to concede Roi d'Jeu 2.5kg, which won't be easy, but he will have no problems handling the track, which yesterday was rated a slow (7).

Balancing that is the remarkable ease with which he won under 59kg at Tauranga last start

Once again the class that day wasn't up to the strength of this field, but the style he showed was so impressive.

Reese Jones had a lot of horse under him as he guided Indikator between the two leaders 220m out that day and the horse simply glided by.

He is all class in the right conditions and with a win and a placing from two Rotorua appearances on his score sheet he will get his chance.

Don Domingo, Seaflyte, Headsup and handy Wanganui visitor Soph are all chances.

No one would begrudge Seaflyte victory after he cannoned into the running rail just short of the line when about to win the Hawkes Bay Cup last start.

And Graham Richardson would like not to be reminded his runner Don Domingo won the race only because of that.

Headsup made good ground late behind Scarlett Lady in the Travis Stakes last week and drops from 57kg there to 54kg.