Trish Dunell
Promising three-year-old filly Wekaforce will make her raceday return in the Superfence 1200 at Ellerslie on Saturday after impressing in her trial at Cambridge on Tuesday.
The daughter of Showcasing, who hasn’t been seen since her unplaced run in the Gr.1 New Zealand 1000 Guineas (1600m) in November, won her 935m Open Catchweight heat by a length and trainer Tony Pike thinks the stakes performer will appreciate the step back to 1200m on Saturday.
“She was very gallant in the Guineas, at a distance that was just a touch too far for her,” he said.
“She has trialled up super today. Back to the 1200m on Saturday really suits, so she is going to be extremely competitive.”
Wekaforce will be joined in Saturday’s race by stablemate Lismore Diamond. The three-year-old daughter of O’Reilly won her last start over 1200m at Hastings and Pike believes she will be competitive on Saturday.
“Lismore Diamond is coming off a midweek maiden win and she did that nicely,” he said.
“She’s a progressive mare. She’s a lot stronger this preparation and while they are a step up in company, she will be hitting the line strongly late.”