Cambridge trainers Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray had the perfect day at their local meeting on Thursday, scoring three wins from as many starts on the synthetic surface.
The pair have taken full advantage of the track over winter and have had plenty of success, highlighted by this week’s outing.
“It is great for us with it being a local track,” Ritchie said.
“There are no float fees as we just walk them over the road and after the winning post they are back in their respective paddocks within 20 minutes and they recover so much quicker.
“It is nice to have a day like this.”
Nystrom kicked off proceedings for the stable, before Hammer Time quickly added to their winning tally and Brave Spirit sealed the treble with a dominant display on debut.
As short-priced favourites in each of their respective races, the results weren’t a surprise to their trainers.
“They all started favourite and they each deserved to start favourite,” Ritchie said.
“Brave Spirit was extremely impressive in his trials and that was never going to be missed. We thought he was our best chance of the day.
“Nystrom has been building to this for some time and she struck the right race.
“Hammer Time broke the track record when he was here last time, so he was always going to be quite hard to beat.”
The trio are set to return to the track in a fortnight to race for the lucrative prizemoney on offer in their season finales.
“Each of the horses that won today, as well as Timing and Avaya, will now take their place in the $40,000 series in a couple of weeks’ time and then we will give them a break over the spring,” Ritchie said.
Following a spring spell, Ritchie is eyeing some summer staying races with Hammer Time and will likely step him up in distance in a fortnight to confirm those plans.
“Hammer Time may well take his place in the 2000m race in the finals in two weeks and then he will definitely go for a break,” Ritchie said.
“I think he will make a lovely summer stayer. We bought him off Pencarrow Stud and the second dam is Romanee Conti, so he has got the blood.
“He is a magnificent type of horse. You just get the feeling that he will develop into a Cup-style horse.
“The only reason he is here (polytrack) is because this time of year the tracks are affected and this is the right place to bring them.”
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