MATAMATA
Tonia’s Dragon worked like a winner at Matamata on Tuesday morning as she prepared for her Tauranga weekend engagement.
Galloping solo on the course proper, where the going was heavy 15 metres out, Tonia’s Dragon had raceday rider Joe Nishizuka in the saddle as she cut out 1000m in 1:08.3 and maintained her momentum for a final 600m in 38.4. This was clearly the best time recorded on the course proper and showed the Pam Gerard-trained mare to be in forward order after a short let-up for Saturday’s Rating 65 sprint.
Tauranga Classic rivals Grande Gallo (Holliday) and Miss Bo Peep (Leighton) were also in good form as they got through 1000m in 1:10.8 and 39.2. Grande Gallo has gone on the right way since her last-start Te Aroha win, while Miss Bo Peep is open to improvement after having no luck in her close-up fifth at Te Rapa.
Tristar (Loki), another Wexford Stables form runner in the Tauranga fillies and mares’ feature, also impressed in solo work over 1000m in 1:11.2 and 40.6, time she could easily have improved on. All five of her wins to date have been over 1200m or less, so she’ll be an interesting runner stretching out to 1400m on Saturday.
Dance For Her (Smith) drew attention to her weekend prospects when she trailed stablemate Flyhalf (Prastiyou) by several lengths in the early stages of her 1000m gallop before working up to finish on terms in a time of 1:10.5 and 39.8.
Sense Of Timing (Bosson) prepared for Tauranga with 1000m in 1:10.2 and 40.1, while The Perfect One (A Jones) was well contained over the same distance in 1:12.6 and 41.2.
Promising two-year-olds Honorable (Sanson) and The Perfect Ram (L Pertab) were paired over 1000m in 1:10.8 and 40.6. Tauranga entry Carooba Mawhooba (Burdan) ran the same distance in 1:11.6 and 40.8, while Prudentia (L Singh) and Ribkraka (P Singh) took 1:11.2 and 40.6.
Sweet But Psycho (Loki) worked over ground and was timed from the 1200m in 1:25.6, with the last 1000m in 1:11 and 600m in 41.3. She was better when stepping up to a middle-distance last time and gets another chance at Tauranga.
On the No1 sand, Spencer (S McKay) got through a sound 1000m in 1:03.9, the final 600m in 38.3. The talented six-year-old is in good order for the open sprint at Trentham on Saturday.