By Jonny Turner
Winter has been a quiet time for the Cran and Chrissie Dalgety stable but things will start to heat up for the trainers at Ashburton on Sunday.
The Dalgetys head south with three starters including two debutante two-year-old fillies in Black Pearl and Light Up The Fire.
Cran Dalgety is expecting a bold showing from both youngsters whose draws (Black Pearl 3 & Light Up The Fire 7) mean they go into race reasonably evenly matched.
“They are both nice fillies and in a maiden field they should be highly competitive.”
“Light Up The Fire probably has slightly more ringcraft about her and she should race very well.”
“The 7 draw probably isn’t ideal but she is an adaptable type.”
“Black Pearl has made good progress through her trials and she’s switching on to what the game is all about.”
“Being a Bettor’s Delight we would expect her to keep stepping up and you’d think she would do that going to the races on Sunday.”
“From the nice draw she should be a decent chance of being in the photo.”
Stable newcomer Rakanotta will also start in the Dalgety colours for the second in race 8 on Sunday.
The former Southlander wound up late in her debut for her new trainers after getting into a horror spot back in the field at Addington last weekend.
Stepping up to 2400m and taking on a smaller field look plusses for the mare on Sunday.
“She got a mile back from a tricky draw first up for us at Addington and she kept running on,” Dalgety said.
“We can’t really fault her, she has trained on nicely.”
“With a better draw (6) and racing a smaller field we would like to think she’s a nice eachway chance.”
Carter Dalgety takes the reins behind Rakanotta and Black Pearl on Sunday.
Blair Orange will drive Light Up The Fire.
