D Day for Caricature
The pressure again goes on three-year-old filly Caricature this weekend.
Fresh from facing her toughest assignment in the Group 1 Al Basti Equiworld Dubai New Zealand Oaks (2400m) at Trentham last month, Caricature will be out to seal a tilt at a Group 1 event across the Tasman when she competes in Saturday’s Listed New Zealand Bloodstock Warstep Stakes (2000m) at Riccarton.
Trainer Tony Pike has pencilled-in two Adelaide assignments for the daughter of Power, the first being the Group 1 Australasian Oaks (2000m) at Morphettville on May 5 and the other, the Group 3 South Australian Fillies Classic (2500m) on the same track a fortnight later.
“She has got to win or be very unlucky on Saturday to go over,” Pike said. “This is a drop in class from the Oaks and if she runs up to her effort in that she should be hard to beat.
“She has continued to improve and she needs to if she is to be competitive in the Oaks over there.” Caricature was having just her fifth start when she fought on strongly for fourth, just over three lengths from the winner Savvy Coup, in the New Zealand Oaks and her recent form also includes black-type placings in the Listed Oaks Prelude (1800m) and the Group 3 Lowland Stakes (2100m).
Johnathan Parkes was aboard Caricature in the Oaks Prelude and he regains the mount on Saturday as her recent regular rider, Leith Innes, has engagements at Pukekohe.
A daughter of the five-time winner and Group 1 placegetter Octapussy, Caricature is raced by the China Horse Club which bought her for $600,000 from the 2016 New Zeland Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale at Karaka.
Caricature was joined on the flight south this week by a relatively new stablemate Endean Rose, who will be looking to boost further her value as a potential broodmare.
Under the guidance of her previous trainer, Iain Kennedy, Endean Rose won six races, but more importantly she was Group 1 placed when third behind Wait A Sec in the Group 1 Livamol Classic (2040m) at Hastings and also second in the Group 2 Travis Stakes (2000m) at Te Rapa 12 months ago.
“She was bought to go to stud and, though she has been Group 1 and Two placed, she hasn’t won a stakes race so this is a chance for her this weekend,” Pike said.
Since changing hands, Endean Rose has made two public appearances for Pike, the first when runner-up at the Cambridge trials and the other when second-last over 1400 metres at Te Aroha a fortnight ago. “I didn’t know a lot about her and her form had tailed off for Iain,” Pike said.
“On the hard track at Te Aroha over 1400m she was just run off her feet. She’l be better-suited over the 2000m on Saturday.”
Pike’s only other runner on Saturday is Haussman in the Fasttrack Insurance 1400 at Pukekohe.
The Pour Moi three-year-old looked smart earlier in his career when recording a couple of wins and two seconds in his first five starts and it was one of those wins which boosts confidence in his prospects this weekend.
His first win came in the Listed Graeme Thomson Jewellers Great Northern Foal Stakes (1400m) at Ellerslie on a heavy11 track, similar footing to which he is likely to encounter at Pukekohe. His lead-up run into Saturday’s event was at Awapuni over 1200m and he had no luck in the running when winding up sixth, just over two lengths from the winner, Ozil.
“He was held up two or three times at Awapuni and when he got clear the last 200 he flew,” Pike said.
“He worked brilliantly on Tuesday and if he can win on Saturday we’ll probably have a go at the Cambridge Breeders Stakes with him.”