Dubai’s Potiki has inherited all the better qualities of his talented dam and Chrissy Bambry hopes he can follow in her Group Three-winning footsteps at Ellerslie on Saturday.
He is the youngest and final foal out of Dubai Belle, a winner of the Group 3 Metric Mile (1600m) in the care of Bambry’s father Tony. The mare passed away only days after Dubai’s Potiki was born, and after being passed in at the National Yearling Sales, he has been retained by the family to race.
“She died when he was about three days old, but we had another mare here that had lost her foal two weeks prior and fortunately we managed to get her to take him,” Bambry said.
“He’s a pretty special little horse.
“They’ve both had their little quirks, but he is a really athletic type like her as well. She did good things as she got older and I think he’ll develop into a really nice Cups horse.”
While still a maiden after 12 appearances, the gelding has placed on six occasions, highlighted by an impressive last-start second behind Kiwi Skyhawk in the Group 3 Manawatu Classic (2100m). He started at a quote of $37 with horse racing betting sites on that occasion, and he may fly under the radar again when taking on the Group 3 Trelawney Stud Championship Stakes (2100m).
In between the two contests, Bambry has taken Dubai’s Potiki back to her local trials at Foxton twice, including on Tuesday where he comfortably took out his 1200m heat.
“He’s just taken a bit to mentally mature, but he’s always been a horse I’ve thought a heap of,” Bambry said. “He’s only going to get better with a little bit more time.
“He can over-race a little bit and we’ve been trying to ride him cold, and he did the six-day back-up into the Manawatu Classic, so I thought this would take the sting out of him a little bit.
“He’ll work on the water treadmill until he goes to Ellerslie, so it’s a system that works well for him.”
Bambry had initially been aiming for the Group 1 New Zealand Derby (2400m) last month, but a trip to Brisbane is still on the cards for her charge if he was able to build on his last-start effort.
“I thought he was going to be my Derby horse, but it just came around too quickly for him,” she said.
“The Queensland Derby (Group 1, 2400m) is still in the back of our minds if he could do something similar on Saturday.”
Bambry will travel north with another two runners, including proven stakes-performer Chantilly Lace, who will resume in the KRA Trophy (1400m).
A four-year-old by U S Navy Flag, Chantilly Lace is a dual-Listed winner and will follow a similar path that she did last winter, after failing to get in foal in the spring.
“She’s come up really well this prep, she didn’t get in foal last year which was unfortunate, but hopefully a blessing in disguise,” Bambry said.
“It’ll be her first run back, so we’ve elected to claim with a lot of weight on. She’s run well right-handed at Tauranga before, so since we were going up, with the forecast rain we felt it would be a nice starting point for her.
“There’s a nice fillies and mares race at Tauranga that I’ll target with her (Listed Tauranga Classic, 1400m), and the Wanganui weight-for-age (Listed AGC Training Stakes, 1600m) that she ran fourth in last year as well, where she was pretty unlucky.
“They’ll be her two winter targets, then hopefully we can pick up some more black-type in the spring.”
Completing her representatives will be Phats, a talented stayer aiming to bounce back to form.
Another homebred galloper, Phats found his best form at this time in his three-year-old term, earning himself a two-race campaign over winter in Victoria. He continued that consistency into the early part of this season, but failed to produce his best as favourite a fortnight ago at Wanganui.
“He was a bit of a head-scratcher at Wanganui, I think the sticky track played a part there, but he can be a little bit on the lazy side, so I just asked Ryan (Elliot, jockey) to make him think about what he was doing on Tuesday (at the Foxton trials),” she said.
“He may need a bit of encouragement, but up to 2100 will suit him and I don’t think going right-handed will be a drama for him.
“Hopefully we’ll see the best of him again.”
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