Recurring looks to have the odds stacked against her for the $100,000 Telegraph Handicap (1200m) at Trentham today but Sydney trainer Gerald Ryan warns New Zealanders have not yet seen the best of her.
Recurring was a brilliant winner in the group one $200,000 Railway Handicap (1200m) at Ellerslie on
January 1 when she took the honours from Telegraph rivals Gee I Jane and Sedecrem.
"You will see an even better mare on top of the ground at Trentham from what you saw at Ellerslie on a dead track," Ryan said of the Pentire five-year-old mare.
"I've got the only Pentire horse that can't stay and the only one that can't handle a wet track."
Ryan is unconcerned about the wide barrier draw of 18, saying the 1200m chute at Trentham will help the ease the situation.
"That's [the jockey] Hayden Tinsley's problem. She's going to get back anyway and I don't think it is a worry. She will get her chance in the wide open spaces at Trentham."
Ryan said he preferred the mare drew out a little anyhow, rather than being on the inside.
"I've always said the bigger the barrier, the bigger the dividend."
She faces a tough ask with 57.5kg - 1kg more than she carried at Ellerslie.
The only horses to have won with similar weights in recent times have been Tit For Taat, who had 58.5kg in 2003, Lord Tridan, who carried 57kg in 1995 and Courier Bay, who won with 58kg in 1988.
They were all geldings and, remarkably, the last mare to win the Telegraph was Recurring's half-sister Lady Madonna in 1994. She carried just 50kg.
- NZPA
