Race Images Palmerston North
Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott are still hungry for another piece of the Hawke’s Bay pie.
The Matamata trainers have excused Charles Road his below-par effort when resuming at Ruakaka and the four-year-old remains in the mix for a crack at the Gr.1 Livamol Classic on October 7.
The stable won the Hastings feature last year with the now-retired Willie Cazals, who placed in the Listed Karaka Classic at Pukekohe in his final lead-up and they will follow the same path with Charles Road.
“That’s still the plan and he’s a natural athlete, a clean-winded horse,” Scott said. “We’ve turned the page on the other day.
“We want to get him on some true ground and hopefully he can bounce back.”
Charles Road won the Gr.3 Manawatu Classic last season and he was spelled after finishing runner-up in the Gr.2 Championship Stakes. He resumed last Saturday, but beat only one of his Rating 85 rivals home.
“We’ve taken blood tests from him and he’s fine,” Scott said. “He ran well below what we had hoped and he got pretty stirred up before the start.
“Some horses go to Ruakaka and don’t handle the ground with the sand getting kicked back and they can switch off.
“His trial and his work told us he would run well, but every horse is entitled to a bad day.”
Stablemate Princess Rihanna is also bound for the Hastings carnival with the Gr.3 Hawke’s Bay Breeders’ Gold Trail Stakes on September 23 her first three-year-old target.
“She trialled really well at Te Teko the other day,” Scott said. “She’s got very good two-year-old form so she’s our leading light.”
Princess Rhianna won one of her five starts last season and collected fourth placings in the Gr.1 Sistema Stakes, the Gr.2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes, the Gr.3 Eclipse Stakes and the Karaka Million. – NZ Racing Desk.