Rasa Lila
Race Images Palmerston North
Explosive mare Rasa Lila is a black type winner and not before time after she made an overdue breakthrough at Trentham.
A frustrating wait for trainers Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie and owner Sir Peter Vela ended in style with an easy as you like victory in the Gr.3 Wentwood Grange Cuddle Stakes.
Rasa Lila had previously placed this season in the Gr.2 Cal Isuzu Stakes and the Gr.3 Eagle Technology Stakes, as well as finishing close fifths in both the Rich Hill Mile and the Trentham Stakes.
With that form in mind, she was ideally suited by the set weights and penalties conditions in the Cuddle and had little trouble justifying her short odds.
"When she's right she can run phenomenal times," Ramsay said. She's very, very good and a pretty valuable mare."
Rasa Lila got back on the fence from her inside gate, but rider Leith Innes kept a cool head and he was able to angle the daughter of Darci Brahma into the clear at the top of the straight.
The five-year-old needed little persuasion to hit top gear and she quickly had the race in safe keeping.
"She was pretty impressive," Innes said. "I only had to give her one little backhander and she was off. It was a pretty easy ride."
While Rasa Lila has won up to 2100 metres, Ramsay isn't convinced she is a natural stayer and the Gr.1 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes over a mile at Te Aroha on April 9 now looms as an obvious target. – NZ Racing Desk.
A frustrating wait for trainers Steven Ramsay and Julia Ritchie and owner Sir Peter Vela ended in style with an easy as you like victory in the Gr.3 Wentwood Grange Cuddle Stakes.
Rasa Lila had previously placed this season in the Gr.2 Cal Isuzu Stakes and the Gr.3 Eagle Technology Stakes, as well as finishing close fifths in both the Rich Hill Mile and the Trentham Stakes.
With that form in mind, she was ideally suited by the set weights and penalties conditions in the Cuddle and had little trouble justifying her short odds.
"When she's right she can run phenomenal times," Ramsay said. She's very, very good and a pretty valuable mare."
Rasa Lila got back on the fence from her inside gate, but rider Leith Innes kept a cool head and he was able to angle the daughter of Darci Brahma into the clear at the top of the straight.
The five-year-old needed little persuasion to hit top gear and she quickly had the race in safe keeping.
"She was pretty impressive," Innes said. "I only had to give her one little backhander and she was off. It was a pretty easy ride."
While Rasa Lila has won up to 2100 metres, Ramsay isn't convinced she is a natural stayer and the Gr.1 Fiber Fresh New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders' Stakes over a mile at Te Aroha on April 9 now looms as an obvious target. – NZ Racing Desk.
