In-form filly Imarichgirl took no harm from a wasted trip to the Central Districts and will line up in this Saturday’s relocated Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m).
The Andrew Forsman-trained three-year-old had gone south for the Lawnmaster-sponsored feature at Awapuni, only for the meeting to be abandoned after one race due to the unsafe nature of the track.
The Eulogy has now been added to the Te Rapa program and Imarichgirl will take advantage of take two closer to home.
“She’s fine and doing well and probably half of the field will be in the same boat so it is what it is,” Forsman said.
Imarichgirl has been consistent in a brief career and the addition of headgear at her most recent appearance at Avondale paved the way for her maiden victory over 1200m.
“She has always shown a lot and with the blinkers on last time out everything worked out for her and she showed how good she is,” Forsman said.
“We obviously feel she is up to black type against her own age and sex so they are the races we will be targeting with her in the near future.”
Imarichgirl is from a family Forsman knows well as with the now retired Murray Baker he trained her multiple Group One-winning sire Mongolian Khan and also knows a thing or two about her female side.
The filly’s dam La Vida Loca is an unraced three-quarter sister to the stable’s former Gr.1 New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Stakes (1600m) winner Diademe, whose brother Embellish won the Gr.1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas (1600m).
Imarichgirl holds a nomination for the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m) and Forsman will give her every opportunity to realise a Classic start.
“Hopefully, she can develop into an Oaks horse and being by Mongolian Khan that could work out,” he said.
Forsman also gave some thought to a Eulogy start for stablemate Sassyness, who won a 1600m maiden at Tauranga last week.
“She could have run after winning well the other day, but she’ll wait for the Eight Carat Classic (Gr.2, 1600m) or even could go straight up to 2000m on a better track in the Royal Stakes (Gr.2),” he said.
Meanwhile, Forsman has his high-priced New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale purchase in his Cambridge stable.
With Sydney-based bloodstock agent Andrew Williams, he went to $575,000 to secure a Savabeel colt from the O’Reilly mare Maxmara out of the draft of Ohukia Lodge.
“He had a week or 10 days in the paddock and he’s come back to us and straight into work,” Forsman said.
“He slotted in really well so he’s been going for a couple of weeks and hasn’t missed a beat, he’s a lovely horse.”
Forsman is happy to play the waiting game with the yet to be named juvenile, who was originally bought out of breeder Waikato Stud’s Karaka yearling draft by Ohukia for $160,000.
“I don’t think he will be an early two-year-old and we wanted to get him in sooner rather than later in case he went shin sore and we needed to give him a second prep,” he said.
“The idea would be to give him two or three runs in the autumn at some point to set him up as a spring three-year-old.” – NZ Racing Desk
