Wyndham Cup victory a Sight To See
You could be forgiven for thinking you were watching winter racing at Riverton on Sunday, with horses competing on a Heavy9 surface, but that played right into the hands of local wet track specialist Sight To See (NZ) (Time Test) in the AB Lime & Caldwell Contracting Wyndham Cup (2000m).
The Kelvin Tyler-trained mare’s previous two victories had come on rain-affected going, and punters flocked to her when the wet weather arrived, backing her into a $3.40 favourite.
From her wide draw, she settled towards the rear of the field before apprentice jockey Amber Riddell sent her around the pack from the 800m. She found the front within 200m and Riddell elected to continue her run out wide in the better footing. Several runners elected to take the short cut along the rail when turning for home, but Riddell kept to her strategy and it paid off, with Sight To See running out a length victor over Sefton (NZ) (Iffraaj).
“She loves the mud and I was pretty confident she would go a good race,” Tyler said. “She is a really genuine horse so it was good to get it done.
“The inside was the place to be early on and it started to get a bit chopped up. Sometimes it (going to the outside) doesn’t work and sometimes it does, but yesterday it worked well.”
The daughter of Time Test had campaigned in the north in her previous two starts, finishing unplaced in both outings, including the $350,000 Remutaka Classic (1600m) at Trentham.
As a result she missed out on tackling some of the earlier races in the Southern Cups Bonus Series, and while she will head to the series final, the Riverton Cup (2147m), next month, she won’t be eligible for the $50,000 winner-takes-all bonus.
“Going to the Remutaka was the flipside of the coin to running in that series, so she won’t be eligible because you have got to run in three heats and that is her first one,” Tyler said.
Sight To See’s victory sealed a treble at the meeting for Tyler, who was also victorious earlier on the card with Better Shared (NZ) (Overshare) in the Herbert Transport & Roughan Equine Dentist (1200m) and Ripa Time (NZ) (Time Test) in the Donald Eng & BWF Engineering (1400m).
“It is always good to get it on your home track,” Tyler said. “It was a bit of a relief, I wasn’t quite sure where we were at with some of them because some of them were having their first start for a while.
“Ripa Time has been screaming out for a bit of give in the track. She is a lovely wee filly, I really like her. Her ultimate target will be the Warstep (Listed, 2000m), I think she will be ideal over 2000m and hopefully the rain hangs around.
“It was good to get a win with her because she has been going good races but has just been feeling the firmer tracks over the summer months. I backed off her a bit and the Time Tests really love the Heavy tracks.
“Better Shared had a bit of time off and came back really good. She is a real speed horse. She will probably go straight into the Gore Guineas (Listed, 1200m) now.”
Meanwhile, stablemate Freddie Time (NZ) (Time Test) is continuing to enjoy his time in the North Island, having won three races in the Central Districts this season and placed in three others, including the Gr.3 Manawatu Cup (2300m) and Listed Marton Cup (2200m).
He has continued to thrive since his last start victory over a mile at Otaki and is set to return to Trentham later this month to tackle the Gr.2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2100m).
“Every is going well there, so hopefully he can do it again,” Tyler said.
