Roger James and Robert Wellwood won’t be chasing Australian riches this Saturday with Orchestral (NZ) (Savabeel), but the Cambridge trainers will have a key hope on home soil with December (NZ) (Shamexpress) taking on the Listed Bramco Granite and Marble Flying Handicap (1400m).
An earner of more than $2.7 million, Orchestral is one of the country’s brightest stars and came back into form when winning the $1 million Aotearoa Classic (1600m) in January. She went on to finish third in the Gr.1 Otaki-Maori WFA Classic (1600m) and sixth in the Gr.1 Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes (2000m), and while she was set to contest Saturday’s Gr.1 Tancred Stakes (2400m), a minor hoof issue ruled her out of the A$1.5 million feature at Rosehill.
“We were getting her ready for the truck, but she had a slight pulse in her foot,” Wellwood said. “On further inspection, she had a bit of pain in her heel.
“She’s still sound, but it’s just too big of a risk to be putting her on a plane and incurring all the costs involved for the owners. If it was a race in your own country, you may have had her right by Saturday, but it’s too big of a trip to go with no certainty.”
The daughter of Savabeel will remain in Cambridge this weekend, while her talented stablemate December is likely to make the journey to Trentham in favour of starting in an Open 11500m at Te Aroha on the same day.
Initially intending to start in the Listed Lightning Handicap (1200m) last Saturday, James and Wellwood opted to scratch the lightly-raced four-year-old from a wide barrier and step him back up to 1400m, a distance he hasn’t raced at since the Gr.2 Auckland Guineas in late 2023.
“He was just drawn very wide (in the Lightning) and the weather looked very unsettled, so we thought it was probably a bit of a risk putting him on the truck when there was good options for him in the following weekend,” Wellwood said.
“He’s drawn ever so slightly better at Wellington and we are keen to see him go 1400, so we’re leaning towards that at the moment. Having said that, we haven’t spoken to the ownership group, but we were fortunate to be able to leave him in both races.
“He’s going really well and putting together a nice record, he’s a highly talented horse that has had some bad luck along the way. We haven’t stepped him back up over 1400 since he had blinkers on and was quite aggressive in them, so it’ll be nice to see him get back up over a trip for the first time in a long time.
“That’ll probably determine where we head with him from here.”
A stable runner that will appear at the Te Aroha meeting is Zormella (NZ) (Almanzor), a classy filly that will step back to her own grade after performing creditably in the $3.5 million NZB Kiwi (1500m) on Champions Day.
She was a late addition to the race after stablemate Dealt With was unable to fulfil his slot, and at just her third raceday start finished 11th.
“She ran as well as she could’ve in the Kiwi, it just all came up too quickly for her being just her third start to the races,” Wellwood said.
“She trialled up extremely well and just struck a wet track on debut, which didn’t suit her. She was very impressive in winning a maiden at Pukekohe, and as I say, the Kiwi probably just came up a bit quick.
“She gets back into her own grade now which is great, it’ll be nice to see her up over a mile and it’ll really tell us where we head from here, whether that be to go further to stick to a mile.
“I certainly think she’s a stakes horse in the making.”
Lining up in the Towes Insurance (1600m), the Almanzor three-year-old will carry just 54.5kg in the hands of apprentice Triston Moodley.
