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David and Emma Haworth are going easy on their talented mare Waikaha at Riccarton.

With a future plan in mind, the father and daughter training combination have elected to chase the Gr.3 Valachi Downs Canterbury Breeders’ Stakes in preference to the feature 1600 metre event on Wednesday’s card.

Twelve months ago, Waikaha finished a close fourth behind Addictive Habit in the Gr.2 Coupland’s Bakeries Mile.

“She’s travelled down here really well, she’s used to it so that wasn’t a worry,” Emma Haworth said. “We wanted to drop her back a bit and hopefully get a win to get her confidence back up again before we look at another Group One in the future.”

The winner of four races and a multiple stakes placegetter, Waikaha ran third at Hastings two starts back before she finished seventh, after racing three wide, in the Gr.1 Windsor Park Plate at Trentham.

“She’s been going super races in tough fields,” Haworth said. “She never seems to get a lot of luck, but she does always try hard and she’s never let us down.”

The Towkay mare, who will be ridden at Riccarton by Rosie Myers, has only raced beyond a mile once when unplaced in last year’s Gr.2 Travis Stakes and her trainers are keen to give her further staying opportunities.

“We will be looking to get her up over 2000 metres in the future and the Wanganui Cup is a race Dad has mentioned as a possible target,” Haworth said.