Racing: Legarto ready for step up to 1600m
Legarto winning Australian Guineas in March.
Expect a better version of superstar mare Legarto to turn up at Hastings on Saturday, as long as the weather plays its part.
The Australian Guineas winner is the $1.80 futures favourite for the second group 1 of the New Zealand thoroughbred season, the $400,000 Arrowfield Stud Plate.
Not only is Legarto stepping up to 1600m after finishing third when finding the 1400m of the Tarzino Trophy last start but the horses who finished first, second and fourth in that race won’t be among her opposition on Saturday.
While all the signs point to Legarto being clearly the horse to beat, she will only take her place in the weight-for-age feature if the track is no worse than heavy.
After a very dry month the Hasting track copped 13mm of rain overnight on Sunday and track manager Richard Fenwick expected it to be in the heavy range this morning.
“I am hoping the forecast, which isn’t for too much heavy rain later in the week, is right,” he said.
“If it is and the strong winds we have been having continue then the track could get back to a Soft 5.
“But that will depend on the next few days.”
The Hastings track being in the Soft 5 range would please the trainers of most of the favourites for Saturday, with Legarto, Sharp N Smart and La Crique all at their best on better tracks although Mustang Valley is one horse near the top of the market who would thrive on a heavy track.
If a heavy surface does eventuate then Legarto’s co-trainer Ken Kelso admits his stable star could miss the Arrowfield.
“She will be fine on a soft track but she would be doubtful to start if the track was going to be heavy.
“So she is going there at this stage and will start on a soft track.”
Kelso says Legarto has improved significantly since her Tarzino third, as he warned punters she would even before the race.
“It has really brought her on,” he told the Herald.
“Her work since has been good, her coat is better and she seems very bright.
“She worked with Campionessa the other day and will work with her again tomorrow (Tuesday).”
While Legarto is expected to start it would be a mess for bigger Futures punters if she doesn’t as those bets are “all in”, meaning no refunds for not starting, unlike Final Field bets with mean any bets on horses after the final field is declared tomorrow morning are refunded if that horse is scratched.
The TAB does offer a refund of up to $50 for most customers on Futures Bets if their horse isn’t in the final field.
Black type races reduced
New Zealand will have fewer black type thoroughbred races this season.
The total number of black type races has been reduced by eight to 142 because of downward trend in the overall number of races being run every season, leading to an increasingly disproportionate number of races holding black-type status.
“A significant decline in the number of races run in recent seasons has seen the New Zealand Pattern race percentage increase to over 6 per cent,” the NZ Pattern Committee said in its report.
“This was generating international concern and affecting the perceived quality of the New Zealand pattern (black type system).”
The eight races that have lost their listed status are the Staphanos Classic, the Feilding Cup, the Levin Stakes, the Newmarket Handicap, the Timaru Cup, the New Zealand St Leger, the Riverton Cup and the Easter Cup.
On the other side of the coin, two races were upgraded, the Soliloquy Stakes, which will be run at Pukekohe on October 28 and now has group 2 status while the Mufhasa Stakes run as part of the New Zealand Derby undercard, has been upgraded from listed to group 3.
