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Noble Warrior’s current preparation has been framed around peaking him for the Gr.3 New Zealand Cup, but his versatility shouldn’t be under-estimated in the meantime.
A winner from 1200 to 2100 metres, co-trainer Tana Shaw said the eight-year-old had thrived since his double strike at the Grand National meeting at Riccarton.
“He had a couple of weeks off after he returned home and he’s been working very well.”Noble Warrior will return to competition in Saturday’s Westbury Stud Karaka Classic at Te Aroha where a heavy track shouldn’t trouble the gelding, who has posted all 11 of his career wins on rain-affected going.
Shaw prepares the Le Bec Fin gelding with her husband Grant, a structural engineer who is currently working overseas.“He’s in Papua New Guinea working on a couple of projects,” she said. “Grant has a couple of other races in mind before Riccarton – one of them at Rotorua.”
The Listed Agrodome Rotorua Plate on October 18 is a race the horse won in 2012, two starts after he had finished runner-up in the Karaka Classic.Noble Warrior went on to contest the Christchurch Casino New Zealand Cup that year, but despite tailing the field home his connections are convinced he can master the 3200 metre trip this time around on November 15.
“Everybody reckons he can’t stay, but he can,” Shaw said. “He has got to be ridden like a stayer and dropped back. His mother Our Kuini Rose was the same – she used to jump well and then settle back and come home.”Key to getting Noble Warrior to settle has been Chris Johnson, who rode the horse to win his last two starts from off the pace at Riccarton in August.
“Grant wanted him ridden back and then let him power home and Chris knows exactly how to do that, he’s a magician,” Shaw said. “Hopefully, everything goes right and he’ll be on him in the cup.”