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A tilt at the one of the big prizes on offer at Ellerslie on New Year’s Day is the target for impressive Avondale winner Kaleidoscope after she downed a quality field of rating 85 gallopers on Saturday.
The Lance O’Sullivan and Andrew Scott trained mare dug deep to make it back to back victories after a torrid home straight tussle with race favourite Procurement to continue the recent winning roll of the Matamata stable.
“She has really come into her own this season now that she has learnt to relax in her races,” explained Scott.“She used to want to rip and tear all the time and couldn’t really round her races off but at the end of her last preparation we finally got her to settle and that has made all the difference to her.
“It was a beautiful ride by Michael as he positioned nicely just off the leaders and she was very powerful in the run to the line when he asked her for the effort.“We were a little worried about the 1400 metre trip on Saturday as she is really looking for more ground now but they ran along at good speed and that suited her nicely.”
The Gr. 2 Rich Hill Mile at Ellerslie on the 1st of January will now become the main target for the mare with Scott and O’Sullivan looking to give her one more start before tackling stakes company.“We haven’t worked out just where she will run next but we will work back from the Rich Hill Mile to find something for her as she will need a run before then,” said Scott.
“She goes well at Ellerslie having won over the distance there before so hopefully she can make the field with a light weight as we think she can be competitive.”The win by Kaleidoscope is the 13th of the season for the partnership which places them in the top ten on the national trainer’s premiership ladder.