New Plymouth trainer Robbie Patterson hasn’t given up hope on his trio of Queensland runners bringing home a major prize after they had contrasting fortunes at Eagle Farm last Saturday.
Patterson was extremely happy with the effort of his improving stayer The Fearless One (NZ) (The Bold One), who finished third in the Gr.3 Premier’s Cup (2400m), while he said the runs of Coventina Bay (NZ) (Shamexpress) in the Gr.1 Doomben Cup (2100m) and Nom De Plume (NZ) (El Roca) in the Gr.2 Roses (2100m) were better than they looked.
All three have rich targets remaining at Eagle Farm in the next two weeks.
Nom De Plume is likely to be the first to get a chance, with Patterson looking to back her up in the Gr.1 Queensland Oaks (2200m) on Saturday.
She was forced back from her wide draw in the Roses to the tail of the 14-horse field and ran past a few in the straight for jockey Craig Grylls to finish ninth, 6.2 lengths behind the winner.
“On paper it might look plain, but the first four favourites were drawn one, two, three, four, and that’s the way they finished,” Patterson said.
“They got soft trips and she was last on the turn, and you can’t make up that ground when they walk mid-race. The plan was to go back from her draw but Craig said they steadied up twice in the race.
“I just wish the Oaks was 2400m – that would have been more her go – but we have got the inside draw this week and she can be thereabouts in the Oaks.”
Patterson said Nom De Plume would be a very good staying mare in the next season or two, and he hoped she would be up for a race like the Gr.3 Waikato Cup (2400m) next season.
Coventina Bay, who has taken Patterson’s standing in the New Zealand racing scene to new heights after winning two Group One races this season, beat just one home in the Doomben Cup for rider Sam Collett, but Patterson said she should have been much closer.
“I felt sick at about the 250m mark when she was trying to get a run between them. Sam probably should have stayed on the back of the winner (Huetor) – if she’d done that she probably would have been in the money. She was really travelling at the time, and she got struck by the whip as well,” he said.
“It was a race to forget. I don’t even want to watch the replay really – she should have been right in it.”
Coventina Bay hasn’t had much luck in two Queensland campaigns to date, with her fifth placing in the Gr.2 Hollindale Stakes (1800m) on May 7 her best effort in five starts, but Patterson will give her another chance in the Gr.2 Q22 (2200m) on June 11.
“Her style of racing doesn’t help her – she gets back and you need a lot of luck, and she’s had no luck here at all yet.”
That will be her last race for the season, but Patterson said she was likely to remain in training as a seven-year-old and resume racing in the Gr.2 Manawatu Challenge Stakes (1400m), a race she won last year.
“The owners were going to sell her but they’ve decided to keep her going for another year. I’ll give her a really good spell and we’ll probably go a similar way to last year, and start her off again at Awapuni.”
The Fearless One put in a great effort at his first race in black type company, finishing strongly from a position just beyond midfield to finish just 0.3 lengths behind Splendiferous, and he remains on target for a crack at the Gr.2 Brisbane Cup (3200m) on June 11.
“If he’d been a place or two handier in the running he probably could have won the race. But for his first time in open company, and at equal weights with most of them, it was a pretty good effort really.
“It had been a month between races and I knew he’d need the run, but he only peaked on his run in the last bit. We’ll give him a try at two miles for his last run of the season and we can make a plan for what happens next season after that.”
Patterson won’t be without representation in black type racing at home this weekend, with Secret Amour (NZ) (Niagara) heading to Wanganui for the Listed AGC Training Stakes (1600m).
Secret Amour was an impressive winner at Wanganui two starts ago and then ran home late for third in the Gr.3 Rydges Rotorua Stakes (1400m) on May 14.
“It should be heavy at Wanganui so she should get back and then get to the outside. The way she won the start before, she’d be pretty competitive I’d say.”
