An extraordinary performance by Sister Ping at Cambridge on Wednesday has Chad Ormsby excited about the filly’s prospects for her three-year-old season.
Moira and Kieran Murdoch will have runners in three of the $60,000 ITM/Gib Winter Championship Finals at Ruakaka on Saturday, including a recent recruit who appears to be back on top of his game.
Cambridge jumper Smug will be seeking his first prestige jumps scalp when he heads to Trentham on Saturday to contest the Metroclad Limited Wellington Hurdles (3200m).
Andrew Carston is closing in on his highest tally of winners in a season and on another front, he has already set a record total.
Ken Duncan has a pair of Wellington features on his mantelpiece and he will return with Izymydaad on Saturday to chase top honours in the Grant Plumbing Wellington Steeplechase (5500m).
Pippy has been a sprinting revelation this preparation and has convinced connections to aim higher on her home course at Ruakaka.
Trentham’s feature jumps races have been a happy hunting ground for Paul Nelson and Corrina McDougal in recent seasons, and the Hastings trainers are heading into the 2024 edition on Saturday with the firepower to continue that trend.
Despite the absence of an unbeaten three-year-old who has lit up the last two Ruakaka racedays, the local father-daughter duo of Kenny Rae and Krystal Williams are set to play a big role again during Saturday’s ITM/Gib Winter Championship Finals Day.
Saturday’s ITM/Gib Sprinters’ Winter Championship Final (1400m) at Ruakaka will give Turn The Ace an opportunity to complete a double that has not previously been achieved in the midwinter fixture.
A lucrative target is now in the crosshairs for Hamilton trainer David Greene with his polytrack specialist Branciforti following her win in the D & A Diesel 1300 at Cambridge’s Synthetic meeting on Wednesday.
