Eye Candy caught her connections a little by surprise with a string of stakes performances this term and she’ll aim to take the top spot for the first time in Saturday’s Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Warstep Stakes (2000m).
A daughter of Darci Brahma, Eye Candy is trained at Cambridge by Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray, who admitted that at first glance, her compact frame didn’t create a huge impression.
“She’s as genuine as the day is long, but when we started training her, I told the owners that I didn’t know whether she had much talent,” Ritchie said. “But once we had her on a diet and she wasn’t at the buffet first, that helped her condition and she improved very quickly.
“Funnily enough as a trainer, you’re meant to train them apparently.”
That improvement was evident from the first time she stepped up to a mile, winning her maiden and soon picking up her first stakes-level placing behind Hinekaha in the Listed Oaks Prelude (1800m). She added a gallant third in the Gr.3 Sunline Vase (2100m) to her record but found the mile-and-a-half of the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) a bridge too far.
“She simply didn’t run the trip out in the Oaks, which looked quite obvious,” Ritchie said. “She set an even sort of tempo and when the pressure went on at the 300, she was lacking.
“She’s Group Three placed and Listed placed at the 2100 and 1800, so coming back to 2000 is probably the sweet spot for her at the moment.
“She’s run well in the Sunline and got that elusive Group placing, which sets her up as a broodmare. Once they turn four, it’s much harder to get that black-type and we’re training very much for the breeders (Llanhennock Trust). We’d love to get a stakes win for her before then.”
Eye Candy made the journey to Riccarton Park earlier in the week for the fillies’ feature, where she will take on a full-field currently headed by Dream Of The Moon ($3.60). The Christchurch venue has copped plenty of rain in recent times, but the possibility of a heavy surface isn’t of great concern to Ritchie.
“She’s a little beauty, Orla Casey (travelling foreperson) took her out on the track the day after she arrived and some of the locals said ‘that’s a good-looking colt’,” he said. “She’s obviously held her condition pretty well.
“In training, she’s seemed to handle the wet ground okay, so we’re not too worried about that on Saturday at this point.
“She’s had a busy season, but she keeps eating and keeps improving so this will be her swansong.”
Closer to home at Te Rapa, Ritchie and Murray’s latest international import Davideo will step out for the first time on New Zealand soil in the Hutton Contracting 1400.
A five-year-old by Galileo, Davideo was purchased by Ritchie out of the Tattersalls Horses In Training Sale in England with three victories to his record, all from 2000m or further. With this in mind, his trainers are realistic with their expectations on Saturday, instead looking ahead to a tilt at the Queensland Winter Carnival.
“We’re not expecting much to be honest, we were going to run around in the mile last week but we elected to avoid the wet track because he hasn’t raced for so long,” Ritchie said.
“We’re going to get a better track at Te Rapa, but we’re withdrawing 200m off him which is not going to be his friend. We’re basically expecting him to follow them around, he’s very much in the same mould as Mahrajaan so it’ll be a surprise if he weighed in to be fair. Even if he was rock-hard fit, it wouldn’t help him much at 1400.
“It’s a pipe-opener to get him over to Australia and hopefully we can be competitive once the distances get to a mile-and-a-half and further.”
Ritchie indicated the race would likely be his only Kiwi appearance this campaign, with the main target being the Gr.2 Brisbane Cup (3200m), run at Eagle Farm on the 14th of June.
“It almost certainly will be, although he handles wet ground, the prizemoney and the distances over there suit a lot better,” he said. “He’ll also get a lot less weight, over there he’ll probably be on the minimum. Those lighter weights really kick in when the distances get further.
“Mahrajaan proved that those English stayers sometimes come over here and they’re not at their best until they get to the two miles, he’s has only won twice since he arrived here and they were both over 3200 in Cup races.”
Joining Davideo at the northern meeting will be stakes performer Nepheti, who is searching for a return to her impressive best in the Allied Security 1200.
“She was disappointing last spring, so we gave her a good break after that,” Ritchie said.
“I thought her first-up run was good, she drew a low gate on a track that was softer than she’d like. She’ll get a drier surface on Saturday and I’m hoping for an improved run. Obviously, you’d have liked to have seen more last prep to justify strong confidence, but she’s certainly capable, and if she’s going to come back to her best this is a race that she should be putting her hand up in.
“I think the $12 is pretty inviting each-way.”
Completing the stable’s representatives is Tycoon Prince, a Cambridge Stud-owned three-year-old who will step out fresh in the Maneline Cambridge 1400.
“He’s another horse that we probably flattened in the Wellington Guineas (Gr.2, 1400m) going too far, so we’ve given him a break and he’s had two trials,” Ritchie said.
“His first trial was just substandard, but he certainly improved on the poly once he was on a better track. I think that’s probably the key with him.
“George (Rooke, jockey) got off him at the trials and said to go 1400, which is why we’re going here. I’m not totally convinced myself, I think 1200 may have been far enough as he’s got a good turn of foot, but we’re backing our jockey. He gets his chance to prove he was right and I hope he is. “He’s another dry tracker, as with Nepheti, so we’ll have to assess after Saturday where we go from here. It would be nice to see them return to their best to give us some confidence coming back in the new season.”