Michelle Bradley had to settle for second in her hometown feature over the weekend and she’s hoping to go one better with capable mare Sulabella at Pukekohe Park on Wednesday.
The Ruakaka-based trainer was represented by last year’s winner Bosch in the Whangarei Gold Cup Stayers’ Final (2100m) on Saturday, where the Pentire gelding finished a game second to Fly My Wey, with the fastest closing 400m and 200m sectionals of the event.
“I thought it was a really good run, he was travelling really nicely but it was just a shame that the leader at the time came back on him and pushed him back through the field,” Bradley said.
“He went from second or third to near-on last, so to finish off like he did was a huge effort. It was really pleasing and it would’ve been interesting to see how close he could’ve been had that not happened.
“He’s come through the run really well, I couldn’t be happier with him.
“He’ll probably have his next two starts here (Ruakaka), depending on how he goes he’ll probably have a spell after that then I wouldn’t mind setting him for a nice race in the spring.
“He prefers the right-handed tracks, so I’ve just got to keep him at that direction and with the way he goes at home, I may as well keep him here and happy.
“Hopefully we can pick up a couple of wins over the next few starts.”
The five-year-old’s stablemate Sulabella was a last-start winner in Rating 75 grade at Rotorua earlier this month, and she will be among the fancied runners on Wednesday.
“She’s been really well and I’m really happy with her, it wasn’t my original plan to go to Pukekohe, but it was going to be a good five weeks until Ruakaka on August the 3rd, so we decided to take her down there,” Bradley said.
“She’s worked on well and looking good, she’s bright and going into this race in lovely order. I would expect her to go another bold race.
“We’ll see how the race pans out, and being the first race of the day, I don’t know if we need to be that handy.”
The daughter of Proisir will be ridden by Kelly Myers, while Bradley will utilise Ace Lawson-Carroll’s two-kilogram claim aboard Arabella.
A filly by Belardo, Arabella made a tidy start to her racing career, closing strongly into fourth at Te Aroha on debut.
“It was a great run, she came out quite wide,” Bradley said.
“She’s trained on well and improved since, she’s got a lovely barrier draw (3) and I think although she may be looking for the 1400m, being just her second start I think she’ll go another bold race.
“Being a Belardo, I don’t see a problem with her going through the track conditions as I think it’ll probably be heavy.”
Bradley’s representatives are completed by Croaghaun, a Derryn three-year-old who will have his second race-day start in the Auckland Co-Op Taxis (1600m) under Warren Kennedy.
“It’s getting harder to name horses, so I just used Google with Derryn and Castlebar (dam), and it came out with this name which are some Irish hills,” Bradley said.
“I’m not sure how he’ll handle the heavy track, I personally think he’ll be a better horse on top of the ground but there’s a maiden mile at Ruakaka in a few weeks so this can bring him on nicely for that, where the track will be more to his liking.
“In saying that, Derryns do like a wet track but just with the way he gets along in his work it seems as though he’ll appreciate a better track.
“He’s going to be a nice horse once he gets up to a mile or more on a reasonable surface.”
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