Undefeated three-year-old Pareanui Bay will be one of the major drawcards at Ellerslie on Boxing Day where he contests a strong edition of the Listed Shaw's Wire Ropes Uncle Remus Stakes (1400m).
The gelded son of Lonhro will clash with Group One winner On The Bubbles, while Pareanui Bay’s Guineas-placed stablemate Field Of Gold is also no slouch, not to mention a trio of progressive fillies also adding further intrigue to the race.
It will be a month between runs for Pareanui Bay, who burst on the scene when winning on debut at Te Rapa in October, backing it up with wins in the Gr.2 Sarten Memorial (1400m) and Listed Trevor & Corallie Eagle Memorial 3YO (1500m).
Despite the month between runs, punters can be confident $2 favourite is up to the mark and blinkers will sharpen the progressive youngster.
“He’s flying,” trainer Tony Pike said of Pareanui Bay. “He went to Ellerslie last Friday for a track gallop up there, just for a look around Ellerslie. He worked really well.
“We have decided to put the blinkers on him this weekend as he just wandered around a bit at Te Aroha.
“He is definitely heading the right way. I couldn’t be happier with him, but he just can’t pull a barrier, and he has drawn wide again on Sunday (barrier 10).
“He has started from outside gates at all three starts and sat three-deep and still won, so he is a very highly talented horse and barring bad luck we hope he will be seen in some of the better three-year-old races in Australia at some stage.”
Pareanui Bay is not eligible for the Karaka Million 3YO Classic (1600m) and will head to the Gr.2 Life Direct Wellington Guineas (1400m) at Trentham on January 15.
“We would like to think he is good enough to head to Sydney, but we will just get through these next two runs and then have a regroup. We could possibly even press on to a Herbie Dyke Stakes (Gr.1, 2000m) and take on older horses,” Pike said.
The Cambridge horseman was also upbeat about the prospects of Field Of Gold, who will also head towards the Wellington Guineas as he progresses along a Derby path.
“He is very forward and galloped really well at Ellerslie on Friday. It was a ten day freshen-up after Christchurch and he couldn’t be better going into Sunday’s race,” Pike said.
“From gate two he is going to get a lovely trip and it wouldn’t surprise me to see him right in the finish.”
Pike will have a number of runners on a typically competitive Boxing Day programme at Ellerslie, but believes outside of his Uncle Remus runners, his best chance comes in the last race, the Auckland Co-Op Taxis 1400 where he has Doubtful Sound ($3.30) and Samiam Seussie ($4.20) clashing.
“I really like them both. I’d like to think Doubtful Sound off his fresh-up run, which he needed, is a very progressive three-year-old and should be hard to beat in the last,” Pike said.
Meanwhile, Pike was pleased to see another pair of smart three-year-olds get off the mark at New Plymouth midweek, with better things in store for Gwithian Bay and Turn Me Loose filly Shining Peak.
“Gwithian Bay is a really nice filly who was a touch weak last preparation, but if you go through her form, it was pretty good,” Pike said.
“Even in a four-horse maiden at Hawera she managed to bump into Hoodlum and Belle En Rouge. She has come back a lot stronger this preparation and it was a pretty impressive win the other day.
“We will press on to the three-year-old 1500m race at Ellerslie on January 9 and then we can make a decision after that. She is qualified for the Karaka Million 3YO or we could go a week later into the Desert Gold (Gr.3, 1600m).
“Shining Peak is a filly that we have always liked and she is probably a preparation away from her best. She is a big, scopey filly and we thought she would go close on debut but the track at Rotorua tripped her up that day.
“She was pretty dominant on Wednesday and might have to head towards a similar path as Gwithian Bay, with the Desert Gold a target and head to a nice, graded race on the way through.” – NZ Racing Desk
