Tajana ready to party with the boys in NZ Cup week closer

Tajana has looked all class against the fillies but takes on the boys today. Photo / Therese Davis

TODAY’S RACING

** Riccarton, New Zealand Cup day, first race 12.10pm

** Tauranga, Gartshore Tauranga Stakes day, first race 12.25pm

** Caulfield, first race 2.20pm (NZ time)

** Newcastle, first race 2.35pm (NZ time)

Tajana is ready for one of racing’s biggest party days.

The Cambridge filly takes on the boys in the $700,000 Al Basti Equiworld NZ 2000 Guineas at Riccarton after her trainers, Shaun Ritchie and Colm Murray, decided to skip taking on Well Written in the 1000 Guineas last Saturday.

So they find themselves as the second favourite in today’s Group 1 race, which is the centrepiece of New Zealand Cup day at Riccarton, a huge social occasion to rival even Tuesday’s Trotting Cup crowd.

Ritchie, who doesn’t mind a social occasion, says his filly is in the right mindset.

“Fair to say she has come to the party this week, too.

“When you watch her last start in the Soliloquy at Ellerslie, while she didn’t have a lot of luck, she peaked in the last 50m.

“That was part of the plan to have her improving to 100% this week, and that has been the case.

“She has come on exactly as we wanted her to, and she is bang on.

“Now we just have to find out if we can beat the colts.”

The male three-year-olds have had an interrupted spring of twists and turns. Two of their biggest races have been won by horses who were maidens going into them, though Swiss Prince and Affirmative Action have gone on and now look like quality geldings.

“There really hasn’t been a dominant colt, so I think we have picked the right path. I don’t think we could have beaten that other filly [Well Written] last week, the way the race was run.”

Ritchie will apply side blinkers to Tajana today and instruct jockey Craig Grylls to be positive out of the gates to settle in the first half of the big field.

He goes into the race knowing Tajana can handle wet ground, having won on it at Ruakaka this spring, although exactly what surface prevails at Riccarton today is hard to predict.

It was listed as a Heavy 8 yesterday morning after consistent rain on Thursday, but drying weather is expected.

With the track having been firm on Wednesday, it should dry quickly. However, punters would be wise to pay attention to the first two races to see not only how much give the track has, but whether horses are coming away from the inside, as so often happens on the third day of any carnival.

If the inside stays the place to be, then Swiss Prince could be the horse to beat today as he has tactical speed and railed up before bolting away with the Sarten Memorial at Tauranga last start, so he gives trainer Stephen Marsh a great shot at the Guineas double.

Jockey George Rooke surprised Ritchie when he couldn’t decide between Affirmative Action, whom he rides today, and Tajana as his Guineas ride two weeks ago. Ritchie admits he and punters have to respect that decision.

“George clearly rates Affirmative Action really highly, and it won well last week, so it has to be a good chance, especially if they are starting to come wide later in the day.

“But I also think Pam’s [Gerrard, trainer] other horse Romanoff went huge last start and might be the sneaky in the race.”

The Guineas is so often dominated by a big-ticket colt, like Savaglee last year, but this year looks open, and half the field could win without surprising.

If the Guineas looks tricky for punters, then the signature race of the day, the 162nd New Zealand Cup, is a real puzzle, especially with Wolfgang coming in to carry the 59kg topweight and compressing every other runner to 54kg, hardly an ideal scenario for a $450,000 handicap.

One horse who has beaten the handicapper today is Platinum Attack in the $140,000 Lindauer Steward Stakes.

He smashed most of today’s opposition over 1000m last Saturday, carrying 57.5kg and gaining 6 rating points. Yet he drops to the 53kg minimum today, effectively 4-5kg better off even after thrashing his opponents.

That’s because new, higher-rated opponents join today’s field, even though they are not likely to be among the favourites.

Platinum Attack’s trainer, Lisa Latta, is hoping for a greatly improved track as he prefers good ground and, if the surface comes back to a G4-S5, it would appear only bad luck can beat him.

There is also black-type racing at Tauranga today with the $150,000 Gartshore Construction Tauranga Stakes, where the weight-for-age conditions favour Ladies Man for jockey Ryan Elliot, who has added further class to the jockeys’ ranks with his return this month.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.