No rest for Ropiha as Jayla Monet resumes after lengthy spell
A HOLIDAY in the United Kingdom is not stopping trainer Ben Ropiha from monitoring one of the stars of his stable.
The Cambridge trainer is currently enjoying an English summer, but he’ll still be following his runner Jayla Monet’s performance after a six-month spell.
“It’s been a great break and I really enjoyed going to Epsom for the Oaks – it was a great spectacle and I had a good day on the punt as well,” Rophia joked.
The star mare had a disappointing spring and summer campaign, but Rophia is optimistic the best is yet to come.
“It was probably our own fault and her first-up run over a mile in the Karaka Classic on a really testing track at Pukekohe probably took more out of her than we thought,” Ropiha said.
“We were trying to get her in the Auckland Cup, but that didn’t work out so she had a break and she’s good now.”
While 1400 metres is not Jayla Monet’s ideal trip, Ropiha still expects the daughter of Any Suggestion to put in a strong first-up performance.
“The distance on Sunday will be too short for her, but we’ll be happy to see her hitting the line well,” he said.
“She can get herself wound up and be a bit of a handful, but she is a talented staying mare.”
Kiwi trainer Mark Walker sets the pace in Singapore premiership
After a string of ten wins in the space of week, New Zealand training export Mark Walker has established a healthy a 13-win lead in the Singapore trainers’ premiership.
Walker, who won the Singapore premiership in 2015, now looks well placed to secure a second title there to go with the five he won in New Zealand.
The trainer said he is happy to take a lead into this weekend’s action, but is not getting ahead of himself.
“We’re 13 ahead now and I’d rather be 13 ahead than that many behind, but there’s still a little way to go yet,” Walker said.
“Alwin Tan won the premiership last year. He’s got a lot of local support and he won’t lie down”
The former Kiwi believes that Tan has an inherent advantage over him, even though he takes a decisive lead into the weekend.
“He’s got a big advantage in knowing the local language too. I haven’t learnt it because I haven’t wanted to know what they are saying about me,” the trainer joked.
While he may have a disadvantage due to not understanding the local dialect, Walker is dominating across the board in Singapore.
The trainer believes the strong showing this season is indicative of the cohesion the team has across the board.
“Of course, it can work against you because horses can get up to higher grades and you can have a flat period. But at the moment the horses are flying, our riders are riding in great form and we’ve got great staff. Everything is gelling at the moment.
“We’ve got a lot of horses that have won two or three races this season whereas other seasons, they might have won just one. We’ve just had a good, consistent run this year.”
Call it bias or a simple trust in your homeland, but Walker believes the New Zealand-bred horses are ideally suited to the Singapore conditions.
“They are the toughest and the soundest and their durability is far superior to anything that races here,” Walker said.
“We have horses in Singapore sourced from all around the world, but the New Zealand-breds far perform beyond the norm. They are brought up naturally, not fed up to be too big as young horses and because of that there’s not the same pressure on their joints and they are so sound.”
The statistics do not lie either given that 45 percent of all winners in Singapore this season were New Zealand-bred horses.
Walker was briefly back in New Zealand last week supervising at the Matamata stables, with Stephen Autridge on holiday and Jamie Richards campaigning the Te Akau team in Brisbane, but the trainer said there was one reason he was looking forward to getting back to the Singapore training base.
“I’m certainly not missing those cold mornings. You don’t get those in Singapore.”
Noble prepared to punt on Save The Date
Trainer Lance Noble is taking an Australian gamble after he decided to take the lightly-tried Save The Date across the Tasman.
The trainer believes he has a filly on his hands that will be more than capable of making the step up.
“We’re having a bit of a punt on her, she’s fit and well, so we decided to bring her over,” Noble said.
“She’s travelled over here well and settled in nicely at Paul Jenkins’ place. She’ll run over 1400 metres and Leith Innes will ride her. If she goes really well then we’ll look at the Sunshine Coast Guineas for her.”
Save The Date placed at her first two starts before she won a maiden at Avondale and then finished a respectable seventh in the Group Three Eulogy Stakes.
Noble is welcoming the challenge that a trip to Australia will bring for the filly.
“She was going well before Christmas, but she jarred up at Awapuni and she had a break and when we brought her back she pulled a muscle,” Noble said.
“When she was over that she went two very good races, but we were running out of good tracks at home. She’s still on the way up so we’re here to have a go.”
Save The Date finished runner-up at both Avondale and at Pukekohe Park at her last two appearances.
Noble believes the form out of those races will hold his filly in good stead going forward.
“I’ve been happy with the way she looks and her work and I’ve always rated her,” the trainer said.
“The form around her is solid and she beat Charles Road in her maiden win and he’s gone on to win a group race.”