Racing: Surprise new contenders as Kiwi chase for glory gets tricky

High-class New Zealand horse Dragon Leap may head to Queensland. Photo / Trish Dunell

New Zealand's quest to salvage some Group 1 glory in Australia this season could have a couple of surprise new contenders.

But as the results in Sydney have shown so far this term, there are few easy targets on the Australian eastern seaboard anymore.

The Championships at Randwick finished on Saturday with only two New Zealand-trained winners at the Sydney autumn carnival, remarkable considering the equine firepower sent there.

There were hard-luck stories with draws, tracks and iffy riding decisions and the Australian season has been anything but a write-off, with Probabeel winning four races and two Group 1s and The Chosen One placed in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in the spring.

But you know the racing is tough when Melody Belle, who has won a record 14 Group 1s, has had three starts in Sydney this year without a place and NZ-trained horses also couldn't run a place in either the ATC Derby or Oaks.

It used to be the Queensland winter carnival was lower hanging fruit but as Sydney's mega stables continue to grow and the demand for stallion-making Group 1s becomes obsessive, more of the elite Sydney trainers are sending top horses to Brisbane in the winter.

So that means life won't be that much easier for Melody Belle when she heads there next month for two more starts before being sold at auction.

She could be joined in Queensland by Quick Thinker, who won the Chairman's nine days ago but was scratched from Saturday's Sydney Cup after being lame during the week.

"He seems to be getting better already so we are hoping we can get him to Queensland and get some suitable tracks," says co-trainer Andrew Forsman.

Matamata three-year-old filly Force Of Will is definitely heading there and she could be joined by high-class stablemates Dragon Leap and Spring Heat, with the former maybe aimed at the Stradbroke.

Dragon Leap's return has flown under the radar and another possibly on a Stradbroke campaign is Coventina Bay, who was a huge dead-heat second to Avantage in the last Group 1 of the New Zealand season, the Breeders Stakes at Te Rapa on Saturday.

"I have two options with her, one is to step up in distance or the other is go to Queensland," says trainer Robbie Patterson.

"She might go to the Travis (Te Rapa, May 1) over 2000m but she has never run that trip before or we would keep her to 1400m and have a two-race campaign in Queensland.

"Maybe that is pie in the sky stuff but the way she ran Avantage close on Saturday maybe she deserves her shot."

Avantage will head to the paddock, her ninth Group 1 secured and in most other seasons she would be hot favourite for NZ Horse of the Year after winning five Group 1s this season.

But how voters rank her against Melody Belle, who has beaten her three times in Group 1s this season and their other stablemate Probabeel, who has a genuine top-notch couple of kills in Australia, will be interesting.

Their trainer Jamie Richards added another milestone to his incredible season by breaking the New Zealand record for domestic training wins in a season on Saturday, while jockey Danielle Johnson is now just over $10,000 away from breaking the record for single season stake earnings in New Zealand.