Rochello leading local charge for McKay
Invercargill mare Rochello (NZ) (Highly Recommended) has found her groove in her last few starts and trainer Sally McKay is hoping that can continue at her home track on Sunday.
The six-year-old mare has won two of her last three starts, including her last start over 1400m at Riverton on Easter Monday, and she will drop back to 1200m this weekend in the Editor’s Cut Sports Bar Handicap (1200m) at Ascot Park.
“The horse is really well and she is working a treat,” McKay said.
“She is in the best form she has been in for a long time. She is always thereabouts but she has always had a trait to over race a bit, but she is putting it together. “Brett (Murray, jockey) has worked her out and he is riding her really well.”
With Ascot Park rated a Heavy10 on Saturday morning and more rain forecast over the weekend, track conditions are McKay’s only worry.
“The weather is the concern with how much rain we have got,” she said.
Rochello will be joined in her race by stablemate Industrialist, who will benefit from apprentice jockey Alan Lai’s two-kilogram claim.
“He is a genuine old horse and he handles this sort of going,” McKay said.
“Last start he just didn’t finish off as well as he normally does, so hopefully this time he finds the line really well.
“I am taking a claim with him, so he is down to 52 kilos. His work has been good too and he is just a genuine horse, so he won’t be far away.”
Highly Recommended gelding Highland Fling will be seeking back-to-back wins when he contests the Waxy’s Irish Pub Handicap (1600m) after he scored a well-deserved victory over 1400m at Riverton earlier this month.
“He deserved it, he is always thereabouts,” McKay said. “He ran a super race on the first day (of Riverton’s Easter meeting) and the second day he kept on trucking.
“He is just a neat horse. I am very hopeful, but it is a Heavy track which might make it a stretch too far, but we will soon find out.”
The wet weather has led McKay to drop Neednoman back from a mile to 1200m in the Entain/NZB Insurance Pearl Series, and she is looking forward to getting her back to her home track.
“She deserves her turn,” McKay said. “Her last couple of starts at Riverton she just got too far out of her ground and when I have gone back through her form she has never been a happy camper at Riverton, she has got herself wound up beforehand and raced accordingly.
“You go to Ascot Park and she races well, so I am hoping for a turnaround.
“I looked at the forecast earlier in the week and I changed my plan with her. I was going to go to the 1400m because she gets out of her ground, but with all the rain around and the pearl series bonus for the 1200m, we decided to go that way.
“It could be a punt, but hopefully it is a punt worth taking.”
McKay will also be represented by Eivan in The Ave Sports Bar Maiden (2215m).
“Everything looks like it is going in the right direction for him,” McKay said. “We have got a wet track and we have got 2200m.
“He is in tiptop condition, he looks amazing and he has been working a treat.”
