3 minute read

Milestone looms for Dravitzki; Early Guineas test at Wanganui; Top mare looking good;

Milestone looms for Dravitzki

New Plymouth apprentice Miranda Dravitzki won't be returning to Riccarton to defend her Winter Cup crown this weekend.

Dravitzki wasn't able to secure a suitable mount in the race she won last year aboard Carla Bruni, but the 27-year-old has her eye on another impending goal.

She finishes her apprenticeship next May and intends out-riding her claim by reaching 100 wins before then. She currently sits on 85.

"I'd love to do it. I've only got 15 more to go," she said.

"I've ridden a lot of seconds lately and I've just got to convert them into winners. I'm enjoying the riding still and I've got to just keep chipping away looking for my next good horse."

Early Guineas test at Wanganui

Promising youngster Mr Conductor will get an early chance in the new season to make up for his unlucky first tilt at black type.

“He’ll probably run fresh-up in the Wanganui Guineas,” trainer Johno Benner said. “He’s a nice horse and he should have won the Castletown Stakes.”

A winner at Awapuni in the autumn, Mt Conductor was checked at the start of the Castletown and was widest on the turn before he got home solidly for fourth.

Top mare looking good

Melbourne Cup hopeful Pondarosa Miss impressed with her condition when she enjoyed a midweek outing at her local meeting.

The High Chaparral mare was given an exhibition gallop by trainer Peter Hollinshead at Te Awamutu on Wednesday and she ran 800 metres in 56.04 with her closing 600 in 38.36 on a heavy track.

Pondarosa Miss is scheduled to resume at Te Rapa on August 15 in the Gr.2 Lisa Chittick Foxbridge Plate before contesting the Gr.1 Makfi Challenge Stakes at Hastings a fortnight later.