Shaune Ritchie will recommend Keep The Peace miss the Group One BMW and return to New Zealand on Monday after her disappointing display in the Ranvet Stakes.
The trainer fronted stewards at Rosehill on Saturday to give his opinion on the star New Zealand mare’s 9-1/4-length defeat in the Ranvet (2000m), where she failed to beat a runner home.
“Obviously it was very disappointing,” Ritchie said.
“At home she has handled wet tracks, albeit in lesser company.
“James (McDonald) felt she didn’t handle the ground, I went and saw her with the club vet and there appears to be nothing abnormal.
“My advice will be to take her back to New Zealand on Monday but the owners will have the final say.”
Keep The Peace has won three times at Group One level in New Zealand but the mare has yet to crack it for a win in three starts in Australia.
Last year Keep The Peace came to Sydney for the AJC Australian Derby (2400m) but turned in the worst performance of her career and was later found to have mucous in her nose.
Keep The Peace returned to Australia in the spring for the Group Two Matriarch Stakes (2000m) in Melbourne and flashed home from last to finish third.
Youngster James McDonald has ridden Keep The Peace in two of her three Group One wins and got his first taste of Sydney carnival racing on Saturday in the Ranvet, won by $101 chance Zavite.
And while the experience didn’t go to script for the 19-year-old apprentice, the talented rider still has his sights on giving Australian racing a crack at some point in the future.
McDonald is New Zealand’s latest riding sensation with three straight apprentices’ titles and also a senior jockeys’ premiership already under his belt.
“Eventually I will (come to Australia),” McDonald said.
“I just need a kiwi horse to come over and probably just kick me away a bit. But I will give it a crack one day, for sure.”
McDonald said he would definitely be headed to Brisbane to ride during the upcoming winter carnival.
AAP TURF
