An Asian campaign is on the cards for Red Ruler if he can maintain his Group One form at Ellerslie on Saturday.
Red Ruler finally broke through for a victory at the elite level when he took out the International Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa last month from Booming and Passchendaele.
With neither horse opposing him in Saturday’s New Zealand Stakes (2000m), Red Ruler was rated a $1.80 chance by TAB bookies in a field which clearly lacks depth.
The only other horses with much weight-for-age form at the highest level in Saturday’s field are last year’s winner Vosne Romanee and the multiple Group One winner Sir Slick, and neither are in form.
Outside them, the best weight-for-age performer is the five-win mare Sharp Princess, fourth to Red Ruler at Te Rapa.
“He’s a true weight-for-age horse and the field hasn’t got a lot of them in it,” his Matamata trainer John Sargent said.
“He’s right on top of his game, just like he was before he won the last one, so I couldn’t be happier than him.”
Sargent said two races in Asia were on Red Ruler’s agenda – the $HK14 million Queen Elizabeth Cup (2000m) in Hong Kong on April 27 and the $S3 million Singapore International Cup (2000m) on May 22.
“He’s going to have a couple more runs and then go up to Hong Kong and Singapore, because he’s part-owned up there,” he said.
“We can go up there as long as he stays in form. He won’t go to Australia in the autumn, we’ll just stay at home and have a couple more runs.”
Sargent also has two top chances in the Group One Diamond Stakes (1200m) for two-year-olds at Ellerslie, Savabill and Chateauneuf Dupape.
Savabill is second favourite at $5.50 behind $2.20 favourite Anabandana, while Chateauneuf Dupape is equal third favourite at $8.50 with Antonio Lombardo.
Both have drawn well – Savabill in four and Chateauneuf Dupape in six – which Sargent said gave them a chance.
“The Group One 1200s at Ellerslie usually go to whoever gets the best run. At the 1200 metres there you just need luck,” he said.
“Anabandana is obviously the one to beat, but if you get held up at a vital time, anything can win.”
NZPA AKL
