Street Ranger
Photo: Race Images Palmerston North
There's just one target for Cambridge trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman at Trentham on Saturday but they will mount their attack on multiple fronts.
Baker Racing will produce four fillies in Saturday's Gr.3 Wellfield Desert Gold Stakes (1600m), with the quartet of Street Ranger, Bonneval, Nicoletta and Princess Sapphire making up a significant portion of the 14-horse field.
"We're after the black-print with these fillies and that's why we're there with numbers. We want to give them all their chance," Baker said.
Street Ranger has won two of her three starts and scored nicely under rider Matt Cameron in Rating 65 company over 1400m at Matamata last start.
However, she is the only one of the quartet not to have tackled stakes company already.
"We're happy with her. She won well the other day and she should get the trip all right," Baker said.
Princess Sapphire and Bonneval go into the Desert Gold fresh since their unplaced runs in the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, while Nicoletta drops in distance from her fifth placing in the Gr.2 Royal Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on New Year's Day.
"Nicoletta went a good race last start and she should go well again. Bonneval has trialled well since Ellerslie. We went over her and couldn't find anything wrong after that race. We've got a good opinion of Princess Sapphire too.
"We'll use this race to assess their programmes. If they run well, they can proceed to the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic at Te Rapa (on February 11) and we'd like to think they could develop into Oaks fillies as well but there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge for that."
Opie Bosson rides Street Ranger, with Matt Cameron shifting to Bonneval, Michael Coleman sticking with Nicoletta and Johnathan Parkes booked for Princess Sapphire.
At Pukekohe on Saturday, the stable will produce star three-year-old sprinter Saracino and the improving Mongolian Wolf.
Saracino will warm up for a tilt at the Gr.1 NRM Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on February 11 when he contests the NRM 1200 for Craig Grylls.
"We're happy with him. He trialled well and while this is his first start right-handed, he's trialled right-handed before," Baker said.
"He's going on to the NRM Sprint, but at that level it's pretty tough on a three-year-old fresh so we wanted to give him one run first. He's got a bit oomph about him. We'll work out what he does after that but we'll definitely consider Australia for him, looking at three-year-old short course races." - NZ Racing Desk
Baker Racing will produce four fillies in Saturday's Gr.3 Wellfield Desert Gold Stakes (1600m), with the quartet of Street Ranger, Bonneval, Nicoletta and Princess Sapphire making up a significant portion of the 14-horse field.
"We're after the black-print with these fillies and that's why we're there with numbers. We want to give them all their chance," Baker said.
Street Ranger has won two of her three starts and scored nicely under rider Matt Cameron in Rating 65 company over 1400m at Matamata last start.
However, she is the only one of the quartet not to have tackled stakes company already.
"We're happy with her. She won well the other day and she should get the trip all right," Baker said.
Princess Sapphire and Bonneval go into the Desert Gold fresh since their unplaced runs in the Gr.2 Eight Carat Classic (1600m) at Ellerslie on Boxing Day, while Nicoletta drops in distance from her fifth placing in the Gr.2 Royal Stakes (2000m) at Ellerslie on New Year's Day.
"Nicoletta went a good race last start and she should go well again. Bonneval has trialled well since Ellerslie. We went over her and couldn't find anything wrong after that race. We've got a good opinion of Princess Sapphire too.
"We'll use this race to assess their programmes. If they run well, they can proceed to the Sir Tristram Fillies Classic at Te Rapa (on February 11) and we'd like to think they could develop into Oaks fillies as well but there's still a lot of water to go under the bridge for that."
Opie Bosson rides Street Ranger, with Matt Cameron shifting to Bonneval, Michael Coleman sticking with Nicoletta and Johnathan Parkes booked for Princess Sapphire.
At Pukekohe on Saturday, the stable will produce star three-year-old sprinter Saracino and the improving Mongolian Wolf.
Saracino will warm up for a tilt at the Gr.1 NRM Sprint (1400m) at Te Rapa on February 11 when he contests the NRM 1200 for Craig Grylls.
"We're happy with him. He trialled well and while this is his first start right-handed, he's trialled right-handed before," Baker said.
"He's going on to the NRM Sprint, but at that level it's pretty tough on a three-year-old fresh so we wanted to give him one run first. He's got a bit oomph about him. We'll work out what he does after that but we'll definitely consider Australia for him, looking at three-year-old short course races." - NZ Racing Desk
