Like many trainers in the south, Sophie Price is on weather watch ahead of Gore’s race meeting on Sunday.
With the track rated a Heavy10 on Friday morning and heavy rain forecast, a track inspection will take place on Saturday morning to decide the meeting’s fate. Price has her fingers crossed it goes ahead as it plays an important role in the spring plans of her dual Guineas winner Hello Hayley.
The daughter of Hello Youmzain was a potent force among the southern three-year-old ranks last season, winning both the Listed Southland Guineas (1400m) and Listed Dunedin Guineas (1600m).
The wheels then fell off her campaign when she dropped back to 1200m in the rescheduled Listed Gore Guineas, where she ran ninth, and then she had two unplaced runs at Riccarton in the Listed NZB Insurance Stakes (1600m) and Listed Warstep Stakes (2000m).
“We didn’t really want to drop back to 1200m (Gore Guineas), but when you had already won the other two it made sense,” Price said. “All of the owners were down there and they wanted to have a crack. She drew 10 and it was a frontrunners track and they just jumped and ran. And then she didn’t get the best trips up in Canterbury.”
Price said Hello Hayley has matured over her winter spell, and she is pleased with the way she is building into her spring preparation.
“She has stayed at the stables the whole winter because it has been so cold,” Price said. “She has done really well being inside and being put on in a grass paddock when the weather had been nice enough.
“She is a lot stronger and mentally she has calmed down a wee bit. She has definitely grown and matured a lot. She has been working well and I am really happy with her.”
If Sunday’s meeting goes ahead, Price is unsure how Hello Hayley will handle the wet conditions as she has only raced on a Heavy track once before as a juvenile.
“In her two-year-old race up in Auckland she was on a Heavy8, but I don’t think it was wet like we have got it down here,” she said.
Hello Hayley is set to only have four other competitors in the Advance Agriculture (1100m), and she will carry a featherweight 50kg due to apprentice jockey Cooper Stumbles’ four-kilogram claim.
“She should go a cheeky enough race with 50 kilos on her back, it is just whether she handles that track,” Price said.
“It is a steppingstone for her, and I thought 1100m on a wet track is probably not too bad, it’s going to be like running 1400m. There are seasoned gallopers in there as well and she is coming back after a decent spell, but I am hoping for a decent run.”
Price has identified the Gr.3 Windsor Park Stud Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes (1400m) on the opening day of the New Zealand Cup Carnival at Riccarton in November as Hello Hayley’s main target this spring, but said getting enough mileage into her in the lead-up may prove to be the biggest hurdle.
“We are trying to get a couple of races into her before Cup Week,” Price said. “If she doesn’t race this week, she might go to Ashburton in a few weeks because there are just no other races for her. Invercargill is on the 2nd (October), but it is probably going to be just as wet as what Gore is. I think our forecast is for another week of rain.”
Price is also set to line-up two other runners at Gore on Sunday - Tick Tick Boom in the RB Rural (1335m) and Albazinga in the Gore Elite Plumbing (1335m).
“Tick Tick Boom has matured a lot too. She is a big horse, she is just about 17 hands, so she probably needs time anyway,” Price said.
“Albazinga had six weeks off and has come up well. She looks good and is working really well, so I am hoping for a decent run out of her.” – LOVERACING.NZ News Desk
