Trish Dunell
In-form Pukekohe trainer Richard Collett has opted for a South Island black-type bid with his promising filly Mercy Hill.
Collett entered the last-start winner for both the Gr.2 Valachi Downs Championship Stakes (2100m) at Pukekohe on Saturday and also the Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Warstep Stakes (2000m) at Riccarton and will run Time Lord and Azaboy in the former event and has sent the lightly tried Mercy Hill south.
“It looks a good option for her,” Collett said. “She’s very tough and I’m pretty confident she will get the 2000 metres.
“She’s always shown a lot, but she had a wee setback in the spring, a chipped bone in a fetlock after she trialled at Ruakaka, and it’s been a big effort to get this far.
“To get black-print has been the game plan so she gets her chance on Saturday.”
Mercy Hill was one of Collett’s three winners at his local meeting on April 8 and that win was no surprise after her first two starts for fourths, particularly the latter one at Avondale when she flashed home behind Vasiliki and subsequent winners Toy Kingdom and Toitoi.