Filling the shoes of popular Alice Springs mare Roughly won’t be easy, but Red Centre trainer Ray Viney has two mares in Celine and Tango Stepz who could fill the void.
Seven-year-olds Celine, a grey, and Tango Stepz will feature at Pioneer Park on Saturday.
Before bowing out in March, the Paul Gardner-trained Roughly had plenty of NT admirers and supporters.
Sadly, the 11-year-old succumbed to a tendon injury when second over 1200m in open company – it was her 64th start.
Constantly battling injury in a career that started in 2016 when she won a 1000m Bendigo maiden on debut, the daughter of Kaphero found a new lease of life in July last year when she won eight races from 17 starts from 1100-1600m.
In the other nine races, Roughly missed running a place twice when finishing fourth and to win her first race over 1400m and 1600m as a 10-year-old was extraordinary.
Darwin’s Phil Cole and Alice Springs’ Leah Walling-Denton also cared for Roughly with Gardner returning last November to train the mare in her last nine appearances.
In her final 15 starts, Roughly carried more than 60kg on 13 occasions and was victorious carrying 62.5kg in two races.
Celine, the daughter of Puissance De Lune, returned two weeks ago after 14 months and did little wrong when third as a +2000 chance behind Quick Return over 1200m (BM54).
Formerly trained by Richard and Chantelle Jolly in Adelaide where she achieved her only win in a 1200m Balaklava maiden, Celine is aiming to win her first Alice Springs race at the 10th attempt over 1100m (BM54).
After debuting at Pioneer Park in December 2021, the former SA galloper has managed four seconds and three thirds, and local jockey Jessie Philpot, who rides for the Viney stable and is the partner of Ray’s son Jaidyn, is glad the mare has returned.
“She ran a good race last start considering the amount of time she had off and will benefit from that run, I think there’s room for improvement,” Philpot said.
“She was off the scene with a minor injury, I think she is working well enough to be right in it on Saturday.
“It’s a very even field, so anything can happen.
“We’ve drawn a good gate and she should be right behind the speed.
“She’s a lot bigger and stronger, and mentally I think she’s raring to go after her time off.
“Celine tries hard in every race, that’s her main attribute.
“She just bats away, I’m looking forward to see what she can do on Saturday.
“Last prep she was very consistent and rarely missed running a place.
“Everyone loves a grey and Celine is almost white now – she stands out a fair bit.
Tango Stepz arrived in the NT from the stable of Scone trainer Rodney Northam with four wins and produced a tremendous debut over 1000m (0-70) three weeks ago after giving the leaders a big start before winding up to seal victory as a +2000 hope.
The former NSW galloper takes on Lisa Whittle’s Mighty Murt, a last start winner over 1200m (0-64) a fortnight ago, over 1100m (0-70) this weekend in a five-horse field.
Tango Stepz, the daughter of Sidestep, wound up in Alice Springs after Unpredicted, formerly trained by Northam, impressed for the Vineys earlier this year with a win, a second and two fourths in four starts.
“She’s like Unpredicted in a lot of ways – similar form and also the same age,” Philpot said.
“I’m not sure why Ray bought her, I think it was more to do with the fact that Unpredicted showed a lot of potential and we had a lot of success with him.
“Tango Stepz is going well and hopefully she’s up to the task on Saturday.
“Mighty Murt is going to be hard to beat, but we’ll just see how we go.
“There’s a bit of speed in the race with Esashi and Intercontinental, who we faced last start, so we’ll just see how the finish turns out.
“We went into her first race on the dirt and weren’t sure what she was going to do.
“Just go around and see how she handled the track, and she took everything in her stride.
“She can go forward and she can go back – she’s pretty versatile.
“I wasn’t expecting her to accelerate like she did.
“I thought that we’ll run a place, but we kept whacking away and then she got that split – she just took off.
“I think the best thing about her is that she’s very mellow and chilled out, but when you switch her on she’s got that go button.
“I didn’t think Tango Stepz was 100 per cent fit going into that first up run, so she’ll be a lot fitter and there’s definitely room for improvement.”
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