Racing: Prowess misses Australian trip with niggly injury

Prowess, closest to camera, winning at the Te Rapa trials in August. Photo / Supplied

Taranaki racing fans could be the surprise winners out of a niggly injury that has kept superstar mare Prowess in cotton wool.

The two-time group 1 winner was to have been on a plane to Melbourne today to take on I Wish I Win in the Memsie at Caulfield this Saturday but will instead be relaxing in her Cambridge stable.

The Karaka Classic Mile winner suffered a slight setback two weeks ago that became more niggly last week and forced trainers Roger James and Robert Wellwood to delay her resumption.

“It was an odd injury in that it didn’t look like much until it did,” James told the Herald.

“It was the smallest scratch on the inside part of her hock but it didn’t clear up and then swelled up and needed draining, which meant bandaging afterwards.

“She has that bandage off now and while the next few days are important we are confident she is over it and will be able to get back to work soon.”

While the Cox Plate is now off the menu the A$3 million Champions Stakes at Flemington on November 11 could become the new prime target but one issue is the best pathway to get there.

“Ideally we want to start her off at 1400m fresh up because it is a lot more suitable than 1600m, particularly for the grade of horses she would be racing and with her having had an interruption in her preparation”

Which brings us to the $100,000 Grangewilliam Stud Taranaki Breeders Stakes to be run by the Egmont Racing Club at Hawera, a group 3 fillies and mares race over 1400m on October 7 which would normally be considered a bit beneath Prowess’s paygrade.

“The deeper you get into the spring the less suitable 1400m there are because so many of them become 1600m by then.

“There is a fillies and mares race (The Rose Of Kingston Stakes, A$300,000) at Flemington that same day but if things go well we would consider Hawera as an easier option and closer to home as a kick off point.”

While that would add plenty of glamour and Australian eyeballs to the Breeders Stakes, Prowess turning up at Hawera is 100 per cent not the news the trainers of rival fillies and mares wanted to read this morning.

“If she goes to either of those races that day then we could look at the Waterford Crystal Mile at The Valley on Cox Plate day and the Flemington.”

While Prowess won’t be ready for the first big 1400m race in New Zealand, the $400,000 Tarzino at Hastings on September 9, one of her exciting stablemates will be heading to Hawkes Bay.

Orchestral was such a dazzling winner as a juvenile in May she has been the long-time favourite for the NZ 1000 Guineas at Riccarton and she will make her seasonal debut in the $120,000 Gold Trail Stakes at Hastings on Saturday week. “She has had one trial here on the synthetic and pleased us and we think she could be a little bit special,” says James.

New stud sponsors race

New Zealand’s newest $1 million race is to carry the name of one of our newest breeding operations.

Elsdon Park is the new breeding arm of Lib Petagna’s huge racing operations, being established just last year at the Matamata property formerly run as Valachi Downs.

They will join forces with Auckland Thoroughbred Racing by sponsoring the new $1 million open four-year-old race in on Karaka Millions night to be known as the Elsdon Park Aotearoa Classic.

The new race, not restricted to Karaka sales horses, will be held at Ellerslie should the Auckland track be re-opened for the January 27 meeting.