Up-and-comer Risque Ruler will face the biggest test of her short career in Saturday’s Gr.3 Wentwood Grange Cuddle Stakes (1600m) at Trentham, and her regular rider Chris Dell is confident she will be up to the task.
The four-year-old daughter of Mongolian Khan has made a big impression with powerful finishes for three wins and a second from her last four starts.
Risque Ruler scored back-to-back wins over 1600m at Ellerslie in November and 1300m at Te Rapa in December, then flew from last into second in a 1500m race at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day.
In her only appearance since then, Risque Ruler roared home from the back of a 14-horse field for a super-impressive win in the $350,000 Sir Patrick Hogan Karapiro Classic (1600m) at Te Rapa on February 8.
Risque Ruler has had a total of eight starts for three wins, two placings and $256,395 in stakes. She was bred by Windsor Park Stud and is a half-sister to the six-race winner and Group Three-placed It’s Business Time.
Saturday’s $200,000 fillies and mares’ feature is another step up in class for the Janelle Millar-trained Risque Ruler, who the TAB rates an $8 chance among an even line-up. My Lips Are Sealed is the $4.80 favourite, with Pearl Of Alsace at $6 and Risque Ruler, Kelly Coe and Our Jumala sharing third favouritism.
Dell, who has been in the saddle for five of Risque Ruler’s eight starts and two of her wins, expects the promising mare to make her presence felt.
“Just from the way she’s been winning those races, it’s clear that she possesses the turn of foot of a pretty good horse,” he said.
“She’s always shown a lot of ability. Janelle really liked her as a young horse and has had her earmarked for good things for quite a while.
“I was lucky enough to ride her a fair bit in her early education, and then in her first trial this time in, she produced a performance that alerted us that she was putting things together and had an exciting campaign in front of her.
“She’s had a good build-up for the Cuddle Stakes. Janelle has spaced her races out, as she always does.
“It’s always a challenge stepping up to black-type company after running in graded races, that could be one of the only concerns, but it wouldn’t surprise us at all if she was up to it.”
Dell hopes for continued improvement in the Trentham track, which was a Heavy8 earlier in the week but had come back to Soft6 by Friday morning.
“She has a phenomenal turn of foot on a good surface, so she wouldn’t want the track to be too wet,” Dell said.
Dell and Millar will also team up in Saturday’s The Frac Club New Zealand St Leger (2500m), which they won last year with Testify Me.
Their runner this time around is Final Return, whose recent starts have produced a fourth in the Gr.3 Queen Elizabeth II Cup (2400m), third in the Gr.2 Avondale Cup (2400m) and a last-start sixth in the Gr.2 Auckland Cup (3200m).
“He’s been so consistent and has definitely shown that he’s up to that top-class Cup company, albeit without picking up a victory,” Dell said. “He just needs to be ridden to have one shot at them. Things went wrong for him in the Auckland Cup, where he got shuffled back and I thought he was a bit of a tragedy beaten.
“There’s not much of a spread in the weights under the set weights and penalties conditions on Saturday, so the best stayer will come to the forefront.
“Janelle and I won the race last year with Testify Me, and we’d love to get a bit of redemption after that Auckland Cup run and go back-to-back.”
