An inconclusive return to Sydney racing has prompted trainer Craig Ritchie to commit well-performed stayer Roi D’Jeu to a rare back-up run at Warwick Farm on Saturday.
Roi D’Jeu will take his place in the $100,000 Listed Winter Cup (2400m) on a seven-day turnaround after finishing fifth to Rain Drum at Rosehill.
The move will be only the second time in a 30-start career Roi D’Jeu has raced from one week to the next.
“In New Zealand my brother Shaun believed he felt his races a bit and that’s why his runs have generally been spaced,” Ritchie said.
“He seems to have recovered well from Saturday’s race and I think I will run him. I’ve booked Brenton Avdulla for the ride.”
Roi D’Jeu warmed up late over 2000m at Rosehill, his first Sydney appearance since running in last year’s WJ McKell Cup.
“He was held up and didn’t really get going until the last 200 metres,” Ritchie said.
“It would have been nice to see what he could have done with a bit of clear air earlier in the race.”
Roi D’Jeu is a rising seven-year-old who has won eight races.
His record includes a Te Aroha Cup win in 2011 and a Thames Cup success in January.
He has twice been tried over 3200m, running respectable races in the New Zealand and Auckland Cups, and Ritchie says the stayer will be given another chance over the marathon distance.
“This is probably his time of the year but there are not a lot races for him in NSW at the moment.
“There’s this race on Saturday and then the Stayers’ Cup over two miles (3200m).”
Ritchie described Roi D’Jeu as a “slingshot stayer” who needs to be ridden away from the tempo.
“He is far better if you leave him alone in the first part of the race because if you stoke him up he can overreact and pull too hard,” he said.
Winter Cup weights are headed by The Verminator, last year’s Group One Metropolitan winner who has been given 59.5kg.
Roi D’Jeu drops from the 58.5kg he carried at Rosehill to the 54kg limit.
