Following an unfortunate late scratching on Boxing Day and enduring a race abandonment on New Year’s Day, Romancer finally stepped out at Ruakaka over 1400m in a Benchmark 70 over the weekend and recorded OTI’s first winner for 2018 with apprentice Jordan Nason on board. It was obvious from the race that the Redwood colt was a step above the rest of the field and will have more to be showing us in the following few months.
Romancer did not settle in the first part of the race and then quickly reached his full power along the straight to finish strongly over the line. Chris Gibb’s was impressed with his last 100m of the race where the horse was given the opportunity to run without interference by the jockey. The stable are pleased with the horse and although it is yet undecided where Romancer will be heading next we look forward to the horse maturing and gaining more experience on the track which will aide this colt reach the next level.
This week we have a couple of runners in Europe where we will see Kaniva running in a 3500m hurdle race at Pau and Petruchio hoping to break his maiden over 1600m at Kempton. Back in Australia, we have Tucano stepping out over 2400m at Sandown in a benchmark 78. Matt Williams has been holding out for a track with some give in it, which Sandown will hopefully be providing. Due to previous feet issues, the soft ground is important for this horse so hoping for a good run on Wednesday.
Best of luck to all connections.