Leading New Zealand trainers Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman have switched their attention from Sydney racing to the upcoming features at home.
Their Sydney carnival runners have all returned home with Zacada’s Sydney Cup second the best result.
In the Australian Derby Vin De Dance was fourth, Mongolian Marshal eighth, Weather With You ninth and Mission Hill 13th.
“They’re all home and going out for a spell,” Baker told NZ Racing Desk.
“Zacada went huge in the Sydney Cup and just missed out. He’s now qualified for the 2018 Melbourne Cup and so is Vin De Dance.
“They’ll both have a good spell and we’ll work out plans to get them both back to Melbourne and maybe the Cup. Vin De Dance is owned by OTI and I know they’re keen on the Cup.
“All we needed was a bit of rain for all our Derby runners. Randwick usually gets some for this meeting, but this year it didn’t come. It would have made a difference to all the Kiwi horses.”
This weekend, the stable will send a couple of horses to Riccarton as well as targeting the meeting at Pukekohe.
Saint Emilion and Podravina will head south for the Group Three Canterbury Gold Cup (2000m) and the Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Warstep Stakes (2000m) respectively.
The stable will have five runners in feature races at Pukekohe including Mime in the Group Two Easter Handicap (1600m) and Gundown and Marcellina in the Valachi Downs Championship Stakes (2100m), also a Group Two race.
