Otago trainer Terry Kennedy is heading north on a crusade to win two races in Canterbury on Saturday.
The Wingatui trainer will produce last-start winners Arctic Glow and Anticipate in the first and last races at Riccarton on Saturday confident both are capable of replicating their home track wins from earlier in the month.
“They are both good chances. They both handle the heavy tracks and are going up there in good order,” Kennedy said.
“Even coming home with one win would be great but they’ll be competitive.”
Lightly-tried Ghibellines mare Anticipate was particularly impressive at Wingatui, winning her Rating 65 race over 2200m by a runaway 7.25 lengths.
“She’d gone well at the start before at her first time over ground and I thought she’d improve heaps and she did,” Kennedy said.
“She’s done really well since. She’s fit and she’s ready and as long as she can handle Riccarton she’ll be hard to beat. The second favourite she beat by seven lengths last start so that says a lot.”
Anticipate had one start as an autumn three-year-old but after her third start midway through her four-year-old season, she injured a hindquarter muscle and spent nearly two years on the sideline.
She claimed her maiden win as a six-year-old last December but goes into Saturday’s race as a rising seven-year-old having just her 13th start.
“She’s a half-sister to Blood Brotha so time is on her side and she’ll stay all day,” Kennedy said, referencing the winner of two New Zealand Cups (3200m) and a Wellington Cup (2400m) more than 10 years ago.
“She’ll probably have a let up after this and then we’ll concentrate on racing after Christmas; the Dunedin Cup (2400m, Listed at Wingatui in February) and Riverton Cup (2147m, Listed in April) and that sort of thing.”
Kennedy will shoot for the first leg of the possible double with four-year-old Turn Me Loose mare Arctic Glow, who won at Riccarton on debut for trainer and part-owner Dean Weastall before joining Kennedy’s stable ahead of her win at Wingatui three weeks ago.
“She was getting a bit awkward to get into the barriers but we’ve ironed that out. She’s a nice horse and she’ll be hard to beat again,” Kennedy said.
“She’s better when you don’t do a lot on her early and that’s how she’ll be ridden again. You don’t change something when it’s not broken. It’s not a big field so she’s not going to get that far off them.
“It’s up in grade but she’s only got 55 kilos on her back and she’s done really well since her last run. I’m really happy with her. She could be a Winter Cup (1600m, Group Three at Riccarton in August) horse next year.”
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