3 minute read

The Provincial Championships kick off at Wyong on Thursday and trainer Michelle Ritchie could have the last laugh with her horse, Better Not Blue.

The Churchill Downs four-year-old has been a model of consistency against Saturday metropolitan company and even has Group 3 Gold Coast Guineas run to his name, but Ritchie still had to search hard to find a rider for the $100,000 qualifying race.

That was until Tye Angland answered her call.

“He’s raced against a lot better fields than this one before, but I still struggled to get a rider which worried me a bit. When I rang Tye he took the ride straight away which made me feel better,” she said.

“It would mean the world to me to have a runner at The Championships and I’d be very excited.”

Better Not Blue comes into the 1350-metre race first-up off one effortless trial, which was always ‘Plan A’ for Ritchie.

“I’m really pleased with him going into this race and I couldn’t have been happier with his trial. James [McDonald] said he went really nice,” Ritchie said.

“He’s fit enough and races well fresh so hopefully he’ll do that on Thursday.”

Fellow trainer Tony McEvoy spoke earlier in the week about how important Wyong experience was, which his runner Daisy Duke has, but Ritchie is trying to forget that Better Not Blue hasn’t had a run on the Central Coast track.

“I don’t think Wyong will suit him that much but then again I didn’t think Canterbury would suit him at all and he’s won two from two there,” she said.

“I’m happy with the draw [11] – he’ll sit three wide and stay out of trouble.

“You’ve got to treat him softly because he doesn’t like it when you get stuck into him.”

If Better Not Blue fails to qualify for the $400,000 Final on Day 2 of The Championships on April 9 at Royal Randwick, ‘Plan B’ will be to race in either the Newcastle [March 16] or Gosford [March 24] qualifying races.

The first of eight races at Wyong jumps at 1:15pm with the Provincial Championships Qualifier to be run at 4:55pm.